Common Foreign Quality Evaluation Tools of Primary Health Care and Their Implications for China

Abstract

Primary health care (PHC) is the bottom of the health care system, and its quality not only relates to the construction of hierarchical medical system, but also affects the health level of residents. Scientific and reasonable evaluation of PHC quality is the cornerstone of quality improvement, however, a unified and standardized quality evaluation system of PHC has not been developed in China. Therefore, the international quality evaluation tools of PHC are classified into four categories based on the evaluation focus: quality evaluation tools based on PHC connotations, quality evaluation tools emphasizing the functional characteristics of PHC, quality evaluation tools based on the perceptions of demand and/or supply side stakeholders, and other disease-specific tools or indicator systems. The content and characteristics of each tool were introduced and compared separately, their applicability and shortcomings were analyzed, and the evolution was reviewed, in order to provide reference for the construction of PHC quality evaluation tools in China.

Keywords

• primary health care|quality of care|quality assurance, health care|evaluation tools|review