What are "clinical indicators" in healthcare?

Clinical indicators are defined as measurable elements of care that gauge the quality of healthcare services. They are critical tools used in clinical governance to evaluate the performance of healthcare providers, helping to ensure that the care provided meets established standards and improves patient outcomes.

These indicators can include a variety of metrics such as infection rates, readmission rates, and treatment outcomes, which provide valuable data for assessing how effectively care is delivered. By analyzing these indicators, healthcare organizations can identify areas for improvement, monitor trends over time, and enhance overall quality of care.

The other options describe aspects that do not align with the precise definition of clinical indicators. Unmeasurable aspects, for example, do not contribute to an objective assessment of care quality, while patient satisfaction surveys focus more on subjective feedback rather than direct measures of clinical performance. General guidelines for practitioners provide frameworks for practice but do not specifically quantify or measure care quality in the same way clinical indicators do.