Identifying unintended consequences of quality indicators: a qualitative study.

Helen E Lester; Kerin L Hannon; Stephen Campbell

Study

Identifying unintended consequences of quality indicators: a qualitative study.

December 14, 2011

Lester HE, Hannon KL, Campbell S. BMJ Qual Saf. 2011;20(12):1057-61.

View more articles from the same authors.

This qualitative study conducted with focus groups of British general practitioners identified four potential unintended consequences of new quality measures: measure fixation (overemphasis of specific aspects of care), tunnel vision (missing important contextual information due to focusing on measures), misinterpretation of metrics, and potential for gaming measurements to inflate achievement.

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