Development of clinical performance indicators for establishing a connecting system between hospital performance management and quality improvement

This study aimed at developing integrated clinical performance indicators(CPIs) through the analysis of quality improvement(QI) activities of a hospital and literature review about performance measures. The CPIs were developed through the following three stages; 1)Identifying preliminary CPIs 2)A staff validity test in preliminary CPIs 3)Developing final CPIs. One hundred twenty-three preliminary CPIs were developed through QI activities of the target hospital for 8 years and literature review. The results of the validity test for the preliminary CPIs supported ninety-one items. Sixty-two CPIs were selected through integration, reclassification and renaming. Then, eighteen items were deleted on account of an imprecise calculation method. Finally, forty-four CPIs were confirmed. They consisted of twenty-six items at the hospital level and eighteen items at the department level. CPIs can be used as criteria to evaluate the performance of healthcare organizations, and to decide the quality of healthcare for customers. This study may contribute to establishing an integrated system between QI activities and performance measurement of healthcare organizations.