CQI
WITH
LAUREN TRASK CQI ADVISOR, QAIHC
Data Reference Manuals The following CQI article aims to showcase the National Key Performance Indicators (nKPI) Data Reference Manuals and where the concept originated. Another aim is to provide an overview of potential uses, and to detail some of the feedback we have received from organisations to this point. Currently under review, the nKPIs are a set of mandatory indicators determined by the Department of Health, which ATSICCHOs use to report back to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). ATSICCHOs receiving Commonwealth government funding through the Indigenous Australian’s Health Program (IAHP) to provide services primarily to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, report against the 24 nKPIs to monitor performance. The nKPIs are client level, population health measures that have a biomedical focus.1 There are considerable improvements that could be made to nKPIs which have the potential to make them more useful to the ATSICCHOs. The Best Practice nKPI Data Reference Manual is a sector driven initiative of QAIHC and Carbal Health Service,
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Sector Leader M AG A Z I N E
who are acknowledged as the intellectual property owners of this resource. The provision of the resource is a response to the drive from Members and their commitment to the ongoing provision of targeted, meaningful and evidence informed health responses. Members recognise the need for clean data so that high quality, evidence based, and culturally appropriate solutions can be implemented. The Best Practice nKPI Data Reference Manual (the resource), was presented by Kim Passante, Clinic and Quality Manager of Carbal at the 2017 CQI Workshop— Our Health | Our Way and generated significant interest from the Sector. Following the forum, QAIHC worked with Members to produce three nKPI Data Reference Manuals aligned with Best Practice, Medical Director and Communicare. The resource is a significant contribution, recognising the importance of clean data, the commitment to improving the data collection and the data collection systems to support the comprehensive understanding of where health gaps exist in community and respond; using the evidence generated at service level. To support services to gain the most benefit from the nKPI data, there is a need to enable greater accuracy,
| August/September 2021
completeness, and comparability of the data. These improvements will also positively impact the timeliness and consistency of data collection across Queensland that inform Government policy about where investment is best placed. Good quality data plays a major role in influencing policy and levels of service delivery to support the health and wellbeing of clients at service level. The manual is designed for those entering data in the clinical team environment, as an induction to the service for on-boarding staff and an orientation to the model of care. Essentially the resource is a tool to support the provision of clean data that is used for the ongoing delivery of high-quality healthcare. Constant change particularly with a dominant locum workforce can be challenging. The resource enables the organisation to clearly specify the fields where records need to be entered in the patient information system.
“Onboarding locums to the way we do business is going to be so much easier.” “I love it! This is going to make the processes a lot easier, especially if we have new staff commencing. Thanks heaps!”
