Medical directors' perspectives on strengthening hospital quality and safety.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the concerns and factors that impact on hospital quality and safety, particularly related to use of performance data, within a setting of devolved governance. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study used thematic analysis of interviews with public hospital medical directors. For additional context, findings were framed by themes from a review of hospital safety and quality in the same jurisdiction. Findings Varying approaches and levels of complexity were described about what and how performance data are reviewed, prioritised, and quality improvements implemented. Although no consistent narrative emerged, facilitators of improvement were suggested relating to organisational culture, governance, resources, education, and technologies. These hospital-level perspectives articulate with and expand on the system-level themes in a state-wide review of hospital safety and quality. Research limitations/implications The findings are not generalisable, but point to an underlying absence of system-wide agreement on how to perceive, retrieve, analyse, prioritise and action hospital performance data. Practical implications Lack of electronic medical records and an inefficient incident reporting system limits the extent to which performance and incident data can be analysed, linked and shared, thus limiting hospital performance improvement, oversight and learning. Social implications Variable approaches to quality and safety, standards of care, and hospital record keeping and reporting, mean that healthcare consumers might expect inconsistency across Victorian hospitals. Originality/value The views of medical directors have been little researched. This work uses their voice to better understand contextual factors that situate and impact on hospital quality and safety towards understanding the mixed effectiveness of hospital quality improvement strategies.