External auditing tools

Summary

The report is divided into 5 main sections. Section 1 defines the context and definition of external auditing.
Section 2 describes the objectives and the change in focus over time. Section 3 gives an overview of the
types of auditing strategies and includes also a discussion of barriers to achieve the goals. Section 4 focuses
on the decision process after auditing. The last and fifth section tentatively classifies the various European
countries attitudes and specificities regarding external auditing, and debates the pros and cons of a series of strategies for European harmonisation of external auditing ranging from the easiest to the most ambitious.

More information

This workpackage of the SIMPATIE project contains recommendations for external evaluation of health
services with regard to patient safety, including selected instruments that can be used for improvement.

Please find:

• the Full Text (as a pdf-file) of the workpackage report
and

• two Presentations held by the projectleader regarding this workpackage

Besides clicking on these links, one can use the menu (see: related) on the right for information, about:

• the SIMPATIE project in general, and


• the different work packages


NOTE: references and footnotes used in the report of a workpackage are saved in an adjoining folder. When a number or letter is shown in the text it is clickable and connects with the relevant folder

Organisation of this overview

In order to be both practical and optimal in terms of web-enabled functions, overviews of the reports of the Work Packages of the SIMPATIE project were organised in two ways:

• ONE - following the basic reporting structure developed for all reports:
  
  
  • Introductory remarks
  
  
  • Table of Content
  
  
  • Objectives
  
  
  • Methodology
  
  
  • Description of work
  
  
  • Results achieved
  
  
  • Role of the patient in the activities and
  
  
  • Main conclusions and recommendation

• TWO - following the table of content and the main paragraphs of a specific report

All headings are interconnected and clickable. Just follow the route prepared for a web-enabled overview. Of course you can always use the full text or use the 'search a framework' function.

Content

0. Summary of the SIMPATIE's global contract
00. Preliminary note

1. Context and definition of external auditing
1.1 Context: a growing need for mandatory auditing systems
1.2 Definition of external auditing
1.3 The Three key steps for external auditing

2. Objectives for external auditing and progressive change in focus
2.1 The four families of objectives for external auditing
2.1.1. Assess the resources available and the proper use of a toolkit of good safety practices
2.1.2. Assess the HCO's own performance in safety of care
2.1.3. Assess the best cost-efficacy ratio of patient safety initiatives
2.1.4. Coordinate internal and external audit approaches
2.2 Patient safety initiative targets, development of initiatives
2.2.1 A progressive change in focus
2.2.2 Credentialing and privileging

3. External auditing methods
3.1 Models of external evaluation: variety and convergences
3.2 Families of methods
3.3 Barriers to implementation and points for discussion irrespective of the method

4. About decisions and after audit follow-up actions

5. Towards an European harmonization of external auditing
5.1 Contrasts in European approaches to external audit
5.2 A tentative classification of European attitudes in managing external auditing
5.3 Feasibility of harmonization: from the easiest to the most demanding

6. Conclusions and proposed actions.

--- References (in pdf)