Evidence-based performance indicators of primary care for asthma: a modified RAND Appropriateness Method

To develop evidence-based performance indicators that measure the quality of primary care for asthma. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL for peer-reviewed articles published in 1998-2008 and five national/global asthma management guidelines. Articles with a focus on current asthma performance indicators recognized or used in community and primary care settings. Modified RAND Appropriateness Method was used. The work described herein was conducted in Canada in 2008. Five clinician experts conducted the systematic literature review. Asthma-specific performance indicators were developed and the strength of supporting evidence summarized. A survey was created and mailed to 17 expert panellists of various disciplines, asking them to rate each indicator using a 9-point Likert scale. Percentage distribution of the Likert scores were generated and given to the panellists before a face-to-face meeting, which was held to assess consensus. At the meeting, they ranked all indicators based on their reliability, validity, availability and feasibility. Literature search yielded 1228 articles, of which 135 were used to generate 45 performance indicators in five domains: access to care, clinical effectiveness, patient centeredness, system integration and coordination and patient safety. The top five ranked indicators were: Asthma Education from Certified Asthma Educator, Pulmonary Function Monitoring, Asthma Control Monitoring, Controller Medication Use and Asthma Control. The top 15 ranked indicators are recommended for implementation in primary care to measure asthma care delivery, respiratory health outcomes and establish benchmarks for optimal health service delivery over time and across populations.