Evidence-based care, 3: measuring performance: how are we managing this problem?

The authors have frequently been surprised by discrepancies between what they perceived they were doing and what they found when they audited their medical records. Because these discrepancies are common it is important to measure physician performance to ensure that effective care is being provided. To measure clinical performance physicians must decide what to measure, whether the needed information is available, how to select an appropriate sample of patients, how to collect the information needed and how to interpret the information collected. It is essential that this process be as efficient as possible because of the already heavy demands on physicians' time. The aim of performance measurement is to collect the minimum amount of information needed to determine how well physicians are performing and whether they need to improve.