HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER		Author Keyword(s) Vol Page [Advanced]

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Elwyn, G Articles by Grol, R Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Elwyn, G Articles by Grol, R

Assessing organisational development in primary medical care using a group based assessment: the Maturity Matrix^TM

¹ Primary Care Group, University of Wales, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK
² Centre for Quality of Care Research, University of Nijmegen, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands
³ National Primary Care Research and Development Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
⁴ CAPRICORN Primary Care Research Network, Croesnewydd Hall, Wrexham LL13 7YP, UK

Correspondence to:
M Rhydderch
Primary Care Group, University of Wales, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK; MelodyRhydderch{at}aol.com Objective: To design and develop an instrument to assess the degree of organisational development achieved in primary medical care organisations.

Design: An iterative development, feasibility and validation study of an organisational assessment instrument.

Setting: Primary medical care organisations.

Participants: Primary care teams and external facilitators.

Main outcome measures: Responses to an evaluation questionnaire, qualitative process feedback, hypothesis testing, and quantitative psychometric analysis (face and construct validity) of the results of a Maturity Matrix^TM assessment in 55 primary medical care organisations.

Results: Evaluations by 390 participants revealed high face validity with respect to its usefulness as a review and planning tool at the practice level. Feedback from facilitators suggests that it helped practices to prioritise their organisational development. With respect to construct validity, there was some support for the hypothesis that training and non-training status affected the degree and pattern of organisational development. The size of the organisation did not have a significant impact on the degree of organisational development.

Conclusion: This practice based facilitated group evaluation method was found to be both useful and enjoyable by the participating organisations. Psychometric validation revealed high face validity. Further developments are in place to ensure acceptability for summative work (benchmarking) and formative feedback processes (quality improvement).

Keywords: organisational assessment; primary care; quality improvement

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. Ketola, M. Kaila, and M. Honkanen Guidelines in context of evidence Qual. Saf. Health Care, August 1, 2007; 16(4): 308 - 312. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]