Table 5 Summary of the analysis of the benchmarking evaluation/methodology studies

Ellershaw [34]

Survey to assess the usefulness of benchmarking with the Liverpool Care Pathway

Partner: Industry

Content: Process

Purpose: Collaborative

N.A.

Whilst almost three quarters of the respondents in the hospital sector felt that participation in the benchmark had had a direct impact on the delivery of care, only around a third in the other two sectors felt the same (hospice and community).

Specific improvements in levels of communication between health professionals and relatives, within multidisciplinary teams and across sectors occurred as a result of participation in the benchmarking exercise.

Holding a workshop for participants to reflect on data, enhances understanding and learn from others.

Ellis [35]

Literature review to encourage the acceptance and use of Essence of Care as a new benchmarking approach.

Partner: Industry

Content: Process

Purpose: CollaborativeEvaluation of a benchmark with the use of Essence of Care

N.A.

Essence of Care benchmarking is a sophisticated clinical practice benchmarking approach which needs to be accepted as an integral part of health service benchmarking activity to support improvement in the quality of patient care and experiences.

N.A.

1. Reciprocity

Matykiewicz [36]

Case study approach and qualitative methods namely interviews and focus groups

Partner: Industry

Content: Process

Purpose: Collaborative

The Essence of Care process includes: 1) Agree best practice; 2) Assess clinical areas against best practice; 3) Produce/implement action plan aimed at achieving best practice; 4) Review achievement of best practice; 5) Disseminate improvement and/or review action plan; 6) Agree best practice.

Best practice indicators

Whilst raising awareness is relatively straightforward, putting Essence of Care into practice is more difficult to achieve, especially when happening at a time of significant organizational change.

Through self-assessment against the best practice indicators, a problem was identified which, if not dealt with, could have escalated to a more serious situation. The manager saw this as an opportunity to learn from mistakes and initiated a service review that has since resulted in the service being redesigned.

1. Workshops (successful in raising awareness, help people to understand how to apply the benchmarking process in practice)

Profit [37]

Literature review on composite indicator development, health systems, and quality measurement in the pediatric healthcare setting.

N.A.

No indicators were mentioned, however a conceptual framework to develop comprehensive, robust, and transparent composite indicators of pediatric care quality was developed. The model proposed identifying structural, process, and outcome metrics for each of the Institute of Medicine’s six domains of quality.

The combination of performance metric development methodology with Profit et al.’s quality matrix framework may result in a unique approach for quality measurement that is fair, scientifically sound, and promotes the all-important provider buy-in. The framework presented offers researchers a path to composite indicator development.

N.A.

N.A.