Sandra Smith
Contact: sandra.smith@uq.net.au
Quality Indicators (QIs) are like report cards for organizations, customers, and the community, helping us figure out when quality standards are being met or missed. It's vital that these QIs are accurate and really measure what they say they do. When we're trying to understand how good a service is, it's helpful to look at the setup, the process, and the results, including feedback from patients or clients.
Currently in Australia, there aren't any QIs for the Aged Care Assessment Program, which involves teams (ACATs) evaluating and suggesting the right care for older Australians. Until now, the Australian government has only used QIs for aged care services that are residential or at-home. This study aims to create a first set of QIs for the Aged Care Assessment Program, seen from the client's point of view. This could fill some considerable gaps in how we measure the quality of Australian Government Aged Care Services, from deciding who's eligible to how care is actually given to older Australians.
The study will use a blend of methods, including a Delphi method (a structured communication technique) and consensus voting, over three stages. Each stage will include some input from clients. The result will be a set of measures based on client feedback that describes the quality of the full Aged Care Assessment Process. As a useful tool, the study will deliver a QI dashboard that works like a scorecard. It can be used to interact with clients to gather valuable information that gauges how clients feel about the quality of the thorough aged care assessment process.
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