Composite Signals of Quality and Safety

Introduction

This project, a collaboration with the National Quality and Patient Safety Directorate of the Health Service Executive (HSE) is contributing to the development of a National Patient Safety Signals System aimed at integrating existing sources of data to identify and track good practice and remedy any areas of poor practice to ensure the delivery of safe, high-quality care.  This phase of the project involves conducting exploratory work to develop and test the identification and use of composite signals for quality and safety risk or good practice in the National Women and Infants Health Programme (NWIHP).  A review of the methodology adopted internationally to triangulate multiple data sources in deriving composite signals of quality and safety measurement will investigate and report on the existing evidence. In consultation with subject matter experts in NWIHP, the logic flow across the multiple data sources that constitute a composite signal of quality, safety risk or good practice will be identified. The research methodology that will facilitate subject matter experts to agree a set of composite signals will be designed, and appropriate composite signals of safety and quality within NWIHP will be tested and refined.