To a Sustainable Quality Policy

The Implementation and Impact of a Rapid-cycle Quality Indicator Feedback Mechanism on Patients and Professionals: a Case Study of Sint-Trudo Hospital

The investigators need stronger feedback loops and a quality monitoring and management system to improve the quality of care in sustainable way. The Chair Sint-Trudo "To a sustainable quality policy" was established to scientifically develop prerequisites for a sustainable quality of care. In this study protocol, a monocentric mixed-method quasi-experimental study will be used to assess the impact of a rapid-cycle quality indicator feedback mechanism on both patients and professionals.

Study Overview

• Status: Enrolling by invitation
• Conditions: Quality Improvement; Public Health; Management Systems
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Implementation of a quality indicator feedback mechanism

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 400
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Belgium
  • Sint-Truiden, Belgium
    • Sint-Trudo Ziekenhuis

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients admitted in the hospital for more than one night

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients admitted in the hospital for less than one night

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Hospital; Twelve wards of the hospital will be evaluated at the same time.

Other: Implementation of a quality indicator feedback mechanism; Audit and feedback: A summary of clinical performance and hospital safety culture over a specified period of time.; Benchmarking Achievable: benchmarks are calculated from the performance of all members of a peer group and represents a realistic standard of excellence attained by the top performers in that group (i.e. comparing to the top 10% of peers).; Educational outreach: A trained independent person or investigator will meet with health professionals or managers in their practice setting to provide information (e.g. feedback of quality indicators).; Action planning: The purpose of action planning is to support quality improvement efforts by identifying opportunities for improvement, strategies and steps to accomplish the work.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Hospital mortality	In-hospital mortality rate	During admission
Patient experiences	Experiences of patients will be measures by a validated questionnaire (Flemisch Patient Experience Questionnaire). Q: Will you recommend our hospital? (scale min 0 until 10 with 0: not and 10: for sure). For follow questions the scores are 'disagree', 'somewhat agree', 'largely agree', 'totally agree. The higher the score the better the outcome Q: This information was provided by my GP or by healthcare providers in the hospital. Q: I understand the information I received about the cost of my stay. Q: I received sufficient information about the causes of my condition or about the possible treatment methods for my condition or about the consequences of my disease. Q: Nurses or doctors explained things in a way I could understand or treated me with courtesy and respect. Q: My privacy was respected during conversations with caregivers or during examinations, treatment and care. Q: Before any treatment my identity was checked. Q: Hospital staff always introduced themselves	During admission
In-hospital length of stay	Length of stay of each patient in the hospital	During admission
Adverse events and adverse outcomes	Each adverse event and following adverse outcomes will be measured: urinary tract infections, pressure ulcers, hospital-acquired pneumonia, shock/cardiac arrest, upper-gastrointestinal bleeding, hospital-acquired sepsis, deep venous thrombosis, central nervous system complications, surgical wound infection, pulmonary failure, metabolic derangement, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin resistant Enterococcus, central line associated bloodstream infections, carbapenemase producing Enterobacteriaceae	During admission
Failure to rescue rate	The failure to rescue rate for each patient admitted in the hospital will be evaluated	During admission
Readmission rate	Readmission within 30 days of each patient admitted in the hospital	30 days after discharge

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: KU Leuven
• Collaborators: Sint-Trudo Hospital
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Kris Vanhaecht, MSc, Professor

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 15, 2020
• Primary Completion (Estimated): January 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 11, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 12, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): December 16, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): February 7, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 5, 2024
• Last Verified: February 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: SQP4ST

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No