Primary health care governance pillars and components in developed countries, a systematic review

Abstract

Primary health care (PHC) is an essential health service that makes available accessibility of all families and communities to necessary services. The aim of this study was to evaluate existing models of primary health care governance of leading countries in this field to find PHC governance related pillars and components. We did search in Science Direct, Web of Knowledge, Pub Med, Springer, Google scholar, Wiley (Interscience), as well as other information sources. We chose "clinical governance"‌ or "PHC governance"‌ and "primary health care"‌ terms. Search was conducted in 2014. The titles and abstracts of the 208 retrieved articles were checked primarily for inclusion criteria. Three functional model of primary health care governance was found in this search. These models have been implemented in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Then the models were compared. Pillars like effectiveness, safety and staff education and development with different name but same meaning, in all three models were found. But there are some differences between them. Most similarities are between the Australian and New Zealand PHC governance model. Due to novelty of the implementing clinical governance models in worldwide health system. There is a little evidence of advanced countries in this field. Some pillars and components with high frequency in this study can be used as important element of PHC governance model in countries without PHC governance model, but each country due to its own health situation needs to select or create the appropriate pillars for improvement of primary health care. é 2016, International Journal of Pharmacy and Technology. All rights reserved.