Implementing performance improvement in New Zealand emergency departments: the six hour time target policy national research project protocol.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In May 2009, the New Zealand government announced a new policy aimed at improving the quality of Emergency Department care and whole hospital performance. Governments have increasingly looked to time targets as a mechanism for improving hospital performance and from a whole system perspective, using the Emergency Department waiting time as a performance measure has the potential to see improvements in the wider health system. However, the imposition of targets may have significant adverse consequences. There is little empirical work examining how the performance of the wider hospital system is affected by such a target. This project aims to answer the following questions: How has the introduction of the target affected broader hospital performance over time, and what acc

SUBMITTER: Jones P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3311075 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature