Quality indicator
Quality Management
Definition. A quality indicator is a measurable element of care, defined in terms of structure, process or outcome, that is used to assess and compare quality.
Explanation
Good indicators are valid, reliable, feasible and actionable. Administrative databases can be used to build population-level indicators, for example for end-of-life care (Grunfeld et al., 2006). Nursing-sensitive indicators can also be analysed over time and used in predictive models (Tang et al., 2026).
Indicators are only as useful as their risk adjustment and data quality, and they can create perverse incentives when tied to payment.
Related concepts
Donabedian model Benchmarking Pay for performance Statistical process control Predictive quality
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References
Grunfeld, E., Lethbridge, L., Dewar, R., Lawson, B., Paszat, L. F., Grunfeld, E., Lethbridge, L., Dewar, R., Lawson, B., Paszat, L. F., Johnston, G., Burge, F., McIntyre, P., & Earle, C. C. (2006). Towards using administrative databases to measure population-based indicators of quality of end-of-life care: testing the methodology. Palliative Medicine, 20, 769–777. 10.1177/0269216306072553
Tang, S., Li, Q., Liu, L., He, L., Zhang, Y., & Chen, L. (2026). Longitudinal analysis and predictive modeling of nursing-sensitive quality indicators in hemodialysis. Journal of Nursing Management, 2026 (1), Article 8833031. https://doi.org/10.1155/jonm/8833031
Cite this entry: Kurutkan, M. N. (2026). Quality indicator. In The Health Topics glossary. https://healthtopic.org/glossary/quality-indicator/