Sibthorpe Beverly, Agostino Jason, Coates Harvey, Weeks Sharon, Lehmann Deborah, Wood Marianne, Lannigan Francis, McAullay Daniel
14 The Mainsail, Port Macquarie, NSW 2444, Australia.
Academic Unit of General Practice, Australian National University, PO Box 11, Woden, ACT 2606, Australia.
Aust J Prim Health. 2017 Apr;23(1):1-9. doi: 10.1071/PY16096.
Otitis media is a common, generally self-limiting childhood illness that can progress to severe disease and have lifelong sequelae, including hearing loss and developmental delays. Severe disease is disproportionately prevalent among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Primary health care is at the frontline of appropriate prevention and treatment. Continuous quality improvement in the prevention and management of important causes of morbidity in client populations is accepted best practice in primary health care and now a requirement of Australian Government funding to services providing care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. To date, there have been no indicators for continuous quality improvement in the prevention and management of otitis media and its sequelae in primary health care. Through an expert group consensus process, seven evidence-based indicators, potentially extractable from electronic health records, have been developed. The development process and indicators are described.
