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Field testing a complaints register proposal as a requirement of Australian general practice
Author(s) -
Hutchinson Ronelle L,
Watts Ian T
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2006.tb00483.x
Subject(s) - accreditation , general practice , register (sociolinguistics) , test (biology) , quality (philosophy) , medicine , sample (material) , best practice , family medicine , medical education , management , paleontology , philosophy , linguistics , chemistry , epistemology , chromatography , economics , biology
Objective: To investigate the feasibility, achievement and acceptance of indicators of quality general practice in the RACGP Standards for general practices (third edition), using complaints registers as a case study. Design, setting and participants: A purposive sample of convenience of 200 general practices (stratified according to location and size) participated in a field test of quality and safety proposals during an accreditation survey visit between October 2004 and February 2005. Included was a test of the proposal for a complaints register (a document where complaints made to the practice are recorded). Main outcome measures: Achievement of the complaints register proposal, assessed by accreditation surveyors; questionnaire rating of the feasibility and acceptance of the proposal. Results: Few practices used a formal complaints register (79/200; 39.5%), with large practices more likely (12/20; 60.0%) and very remote practices less likely (1/11; 9.1%) to use one. The proposal for complaints registers was rated feasible by 123 general practices (61.5%) and rated acceptable by 121 general practices (60.5%). Conclusions: The proposal for complaints registers in general practice, while popular with policymakers, gained limited support when tested in Australian general practice. This shows the need for a balance between the expectations of policymakers, the need to increase performance by setting standards, and the practicalities of every‐day general practice.