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Table 1 Descriptions of attributes of ideal quality indicators

From: Cross sectional study of performance indicators for English Primary Care Trusts: testing construct validity and identifying explanatory variables

Attribute

Description

Validity

Meeting the standard seen as better quality

Communicable

Relevance of measure can be explained

Effective

Indicator measures what it purports to measure

Reliable

Data are complete, accurate, consistent and reproducible

Objective

Data are independent of subjective judgement

Available

Data are available quickly/routinely with minimal cost or effort

Contextual

Indicator is context free

Attributable

Performance on an indicator can be attributed to the relevant individual or team

Interpretation

Indicator should reflect health needs, capacity, structures or performance

Comparable

Indicator should be comparable to a gold standard

Remediable

Poor performance on an indicator can be remedied

Repeatable

Indicator should be sensitive to improvement

  1. Attributes and descriptions taken from Pringle et al. [7].