Quality indicators for COPD in primary care

We will be leading a conversation about what does good quality COPD care look like in primary care. In the meantime, we recommend a paper from a team in Belgium.
Dewaele, S., Van den Bulck, S., Gerne, L. et al. Development of primary care quality indicators for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease using a Delphi-derived method. npj Prim. Care Respir. Med. 32, 12 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41533-022-00276-w https://rdcu.be/cKnyE
 

The aim of this study was to develop a set of evidence-based and EHR extractable quality indicators (QIs) to measure and improve the quality of COPD primary care. They composed a multidisciplinary expert panel of 12 members, including patients, and used a RAND-modified Delphi method.  They offer 21 quality indicators that can be ued in primary care. A core set of recommendations was translated into QIs. From 37 recommendations, obtained out of 10 international guidelines, and 5 existing indicators, a core set of 18 recommendations and 2 QIs was derived after the rating procedure. The expert panel added one new recommendation.   These align well with COPD Right Care. At first glance smoking cessation appears missing but the authors explain "the registration of smoking cessation advice and functioning scores (CAT and mMRC) were estimated to be very important. This shortcoming in EHR extractability should be resolved in the near future so that these recommendations and QI should not be regarded as inappropriate."   Therefore please look at both Table 2 and Table 3.