Implementation of healthcare accreditation in Danish general practice: a questionnaire study exploring general practitioners' perspectives on external support

• Published in: Scandinavian journal of primary health care Vol. 39; no. 1; pp. 85 - 91
• Main Authors: Overgaard Jensen, Maria Luisa, Bro, Flemming, Mygind, Anna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Taylor & Francis 01-03-2021; Taylor & Francis LLC; Taylor & Francis Group
• Subjects: Accreditation; Attitude of Health Personnel; Clinics; Cross-Sectional Studies; Denmark; Employment; Family physicians; General Practice; General Practitioners; Humans; Implementation; implementation science; Intervention; primary health care; Quality control; Quality improvement; Questionnaires; Response rates; support; Surveys and Questionnaires; Trainees; Usefulness; Denmark; quality improvement; Denmark; General practice; primary health care; accreditation; support; implementation science
• ISSN: 0281-3432; 1502-7724
• DOI: 10.1080/02813432.2021.1882084

To describe the use and perceived usefulness of implementation support provided to general practice during an accreditation process and to explore potential variations across clinic characteristics.
Cross-sectional questionnaire study.
All Danish general practice clinics undergoing an accreditation survey from 27 September 2016 to 15 December 2017 (n = 608).
Use and perceived usefulness of seven types of implementation support as reported by general practitioners (GPs). Clinic characteristics included practice type, number of GP partners and staff and employment of GP trainees.
The total response rate was 74% (n = 447). Most clinics (99.5%) used some type of implementation support (average: 4.8 different types). The most used types of support were peer support (80-92%) and various accreditation documents (85-92%). Support tailored to the individual clinic was most often considered useful (91-97%). However, this type of support was used relatively infrequently (16-40%). In most cases, clinic characteristics were neither significantly associated with the use of support nor with the perceived usefulness of the available support.
During the accreditation processes, each clinic used a broad variety of implementation support. Support tailored to the individual clinic was highly appreciated and should be promoted in future quality interventions in general practice. Discussions with peers were widely used, and it should be investigated further how peer discussions are best facilitated. The study calls for a multifactorial approach to future quality interventions in general practice to target the needs and capacities of the individual clinics.