Suggestion for New Indicator - Quality and Safety

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Suggestion for New Indicator

The purpose of VLAD indicators is to identify variation in clinical outcomes in different facilities across the State. This form can be used to suggest new indicators to be monitored using the VLAD monitoring system. The latest version of the current VLAD Indicator Definitions is available at: http://www.health.qld.gov.au/quality/docs/vladindicatordefs.pdf

1.	Which group of patients will this indicator apply to? (E.g. patients who are admitted to hospital for a hip replacement)


2.	What is the patient outcome you are interested in monitoring? (E.g. Length of stay OR Mortality OR Complications of surgery)


3.	Should there be any patients excluded from this indicator? The aim of excluding some patients is to ensure fair comparisons between patients and facilities. Examples of exclusion criteria to consider are diagnosis codes, procedure codes, diagnosis-related group codes, age, episode type, length of stay, separation mode. (E.g. exclude those patients who have had a previous hip replacement because these patients are more complicated)


4.	How could this indicator help to improve the quality of care delivered? (E.g. This indicator may help to determine where there are post-op complications)


5.	What are the possible causes of variation that could affect the patient outcome being monitored, and are there changes that could be made to reduce or eliminate the variation?
	a) Cause of variation in outcome (E.g. Lack of standardised pathway for hip replacement patients)


	b) Possible solution to reduce or eliminate the variation (E.g. Implementation of evidence-based clinical pathway)


6.	Are there co-morbidities or patient features that could increase or decrease the likelihood of patients experiencing the outcome being measured? (E.g. Over 80 yrs old, active malignancy. This is otherwise referred to as risk adjustment, which involves using patient’s age, sex &/or co-morbidities in a statistical model to calculate an estimated probability that a patient will experience the outcome monitored).


7.	Who has been consulted regarding this indicator? (E.g. local Safety and Quality Committee, Statewide Clinical Network, interested clinicians?)


8.	Do you have any other further comments?


9.	To enable us to contact you for further input, please provide your contact details:
	Name:
	Position:
	Hospital/Location:
	Telephone Number:
	Email Address:

	Contact Clinical Monitoring Team on 07 3636 9871 if you have any queries Thank-you for taking the time to provide feedback

Last Updated: 01 April 2009
Last Reviewed: 01 April 2009

Queensland Health Quality and Safety Program