Measurement tools and outcome measures used in transitional patient safety; a systematic review.

<h4>Background</h4>Patients are at risk for harm when treated simultaneously by healthcare providers from different healthcare organisations. To assess current practice and improvements of transitional patient safety, valid measurement tools are needed.<h4>Aim and methods</h4>...

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Main Authors: Marije A van Melle, Henk F van Stel, Judith M Poldervaart, Niek J de Wit, Dorien L M Zwart
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2018-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197312
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author Marije A van Melle
Henk F van Stel
Judith M Poldervaart
Niek J de Wit
Dorien L M Zwart
author_facet Marije A van Melle
Henk F van Stel
Judith M Poldervaart
Niek J de Wit
Dorien L M Zwart
author_sort Marije A van Melle
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Patients are at risk for harm when treated simultaneously by healthcare providers from different healthcare organisations. To assess current practice and improvements of transitional patient safety, valid measurement tools are needed.<h4>Aim and methods</h4>To identify and appraise all measurement tools and outcomes that measure aspects of transitional patient safety, PubMed, Cinahl, Embase and Psychinfo were systematically searched. Two researchers performed the title and abstract and full-text selection. First, publications about validation of measurement tools were appraised for quality following COSMIN criteria. Second, we inventoried all measurement tools and outcome measures found in our search that assessed current transitional patient safety or the effect of interventions targeting transitional patient safety.<h4>Results</h4>The initial search yielded 8288 studies, of which 18 assessed validity of measurement tools of different aspects of transitional safety, and 191 assessed current transitional patient safety or effect of interventions. In the validated measurement tools, the overall quality of content and structural validity was acceptable; other COSMIN criteria, such as reliability, measurement error and responsiveness, were mostly poor or not reported. In our outcome inventory, the most frequently used validated outcome measure was the Care Transition Measure (n = 9). The most frequently used non-validated outcome measures were: medication discrepancies (n = 98), hospital readmissions (n = 55), adverse events (n = 34), emergency department visits (n = 33), (mental or physical) health status (n = 28), quality and timeliness of discharge summary, and patient satisfaction (n = 23).<h4>Conclusions</h4>Although no validated measures exist that assess all aspects of transitional patient safety, we found validated measurement tools on specific aspects. Reporting of validity of transitional measurement tools was incomplete. Numerous outcome measures with unknown measurement properties are used in current studies on safety of care transitions, which makes interpretation or comparison of their results uncertain.
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spelling doaj-art-0d9cc29739cb4dfca22a61be8ed485312025-08-20T03:26:27ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032018-01-01136e019731210.1371/journal.pone.0197312Measurement tools and outcome measures used in transitional patient safety; a systematic review.Marije A van MelleHenk F van StelJudith M PoldervaartNiek J de WitDorien L M Zwart<h4>Background</h4>Patients are at risk for harm when treated simultaneously by healthcare providers from different healthcare organisations. To assess current practice and improvements of transitional patient safety, valid measurement tools are needed.<h4>Aim and methods</h4>To identify and appraise all measurement tools and outcomes that measure aspects of transitional patient safety, PubMed, Cinahl, Embase and Psychinfo were systematically searched. Two researchers performed the title and abstract and full-text selection. First, publications about validation of measurement tools were appraised for quality following COSMIN criteria. Second, we inventoried all measurement tools and outcome measures found in our search that assessed current transitional patient safety or the effect of interventions targeting transitional patient safety.<h4>Results</h4>The initial search yielded 8288 studies, of which 18 assessed validity of measurement tools of different aspects of transitional safety, and 191 assessed current transitional patient safety or effect of interventions. In the validated measurement tools, the overall quality of content and structural validity was acceptable; other COSMIN criteria, such as reliability, measurement error and responsiveness, were mostly poor or not reported. In our outcome inventory, the most frequently used validated outcome measure was the Care Transition Measure (n = 9). The most frequently used non-validated outcome measures were: medication discrepancies (n = 98), hospital readmissions (n = 55), adverse events (n = 34), emergency department visits (n = 33), (mental or physical) health status (n = 28), quality and timeliness of discharge summary, and patient satisfaction (n = 23).<h4>Conclusions</h4>Although no validated measures exist that assess all aspects of transitional patient safety, we found validated measurement tools on specific aspects. Reporting of validity of transitional measurement tools was incomplete. Numerous outcome measures with unknown measurement properties are used in current studies on safety of care transitions, which makes interpretation or comparison of their results uncertain.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197312
spellingShingle Marije A van Melle
Henk F van Stel
Judith M Poldervaart
Niek J de Wit
Dorien L M Zwart
Measurement tools and outcome measures used in transitional patient safety; a systematic review.
PLoS ONE
title Measurement tools and outcome measures used in transitional patient safety; a systematic review.
title_full Measurement tools and outcome measures used in transitional patient safety; a systematic review.
title_fullStr Measurement tools and outcome measures used in transitional patient safety; a systematic review.
title_full_unstemmed Measurement tools and outcome measures used in transitional patient safety; a systematic review.
title_short Measurement tools and outcome measures used in transitional patient safety; a systematic review.
title_sort measurement tools and outcome measures used in transitional patient safety a systematic review
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197312
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AT judithmpoldervaart measurementtoolsandoutcomemeasuresusedintransitionalpatientsafetyasystematicreview
AT niekjdewit measurementtoolsandoutcomemeasuresusedintransitionalpatientsafetyasystematicreview
AT dorienlmzwart measurementtoolsandoutcomemeasuresusedintransitionalpatientsafetyasystematicreview