Development of the Onion Model-based Competency Assessment System for Community General Practitioners

Abstract

Background As healthcare gatekeepers, the competency of community general practitioners (GPs) will directly determine the quality of their services. However, the requirements for the competency of community GPs are still unclear and relevant applied research is scarce. Objective To construct a competency assessment system for community GPs. Methods An item pool of the first draft of the Onion Model-based Competency Assessment System for Community General Practitioners (OMCASCGP) was created by use of literature review in January 2021, then items in which were screened and improved in accordance with the results of two rounds of email-based expert consultation conducted with a purposive sample of 52 experts in general medicine and general medical management from February to March 2021. The weight of each index was determined by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Results The response rate, authority coefficient, judgment coefficient and the degree of familiarity with the index for both rounds of consultation were 100.0% (52/52) , 0.91, 0.904, and 0.916, respectively. The formal system is composed of 6 first-level indices, 15 second-level indices and 48 third-level indices. The 6 first-level indices with corresponding weights are basic information (0.085 7) , clinical capability (0.436 1) , public health capability (0.244 5) , humanistic literacy (0.110 4) , career development (0.082 7) , and other aspects (0.040 6) . The Kendall's W measuring inter-expert agreement on the first-, second- and third-level indices was 0.254, 0.302, and 0.341, respectively (P<0.001) . Conclusion The OMCASCGP developed by us has been validated to be scientific and reliable, which could be appropriately promoted as a tool for assessing the comprehensive competencies of GPs.

Keywords

• general practitioners|post competency|evaluating indicator|the onion model|community health services