![]() ![]() Donabedian notes that each of the three domains has advantages and disadvantages that necessitate researchers to draw connections between them in order to create a chain of causation that is conceptually useful for understanding systems as well as designing experiments and interventions. The model does not have an implicit definition of quality care so that it can be applied to problems of broad or narrow scope. Īlthough it is widely recognized and applied in many health care related fields, the Donabedian Model was developed to assess quality of care in clinical practice. Drawing connections between process and outcomes often requires large sample populations, adjustments by case mix, and long-term follow ups as outcomes may take considerable time to become observable. ![]() However, accurately measuring outcomes that can be attributed exclusively to healthcare is very difficult. Outcomes are sometimes seen as the most important indicators of quality because improving patient health status is the primary goal of healthcare. Outcome contains all the effects of healthcare on patients or populations, including changes to health status, behavior, or knowledge as well as patient satisfaction and health-related quality of life. Information about process can be obtained from medical records, interviews with patients and practitioners, or direct observations of healthcare visits. According to Donabedian, the measurement of process is nearly equivalent to the measurement of quality of care because process contains all acts of healthcare delivery. Processes can be further classified as technical processes, how care is delivered, or interpersonal processes, which all encompass the manner in which care is delivered. These commonly include diagnosis, treatment, preventive care, and patient education but may be expanded to include actions taken by the patients or their families. Process is the sum of all actions that make up healthcare. Structure is often easy to observe and measure and it may be the upstream cause of problems identified in process. These factors control how providers and patients in a healthcare system act and are measures of the average quality of care within a facility or system. This includes the physical facility, equipment, and human resources, as well as organizational characteristics such as staff training and payment methods. Structure includes all of the factors that affect the context in which care is delivered. These boxes represent three types of information that may be collected in order to draw inferences about quality of care in a given system Structure The model is most often represented by a chain of three boxes containing structure, process, and outcome connected by unidirectional arrows in that order. While there are other quality of care frameworks, including the World Health Organization (WHO)-Recommended Quality of Care Framework and the Bamako Initiative, the Donabedian Model continues to be the dominant paradigm for assessing the quality of health care. Avedis Donabedian, a physician and health services researcher at the University of Michigan, developed the original model in 1966. Finally, outcomes refer to the effects of healthcare on the health status of patients and populations. Process denotes the transactions between patients and providers throughout the delivery of healthcare. According to the model, information about quality of care can be drawn from three categories: “structure,” “process,” and “outcomes." Structure describes the context in which care is delivered, including hospital buildings, staff, financing, and equipment. The Donabedian model is a conceptual model that provides a framework for examining health services and evaluating quality of health care.
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