BackgroundThe complexity of the primary care system requires a competent manager to achieve high-quality healthcare. The existing literature in the field yields little evidence of the tools to assess the competency of primary care administrators. This study aimed to develop and examine the psychometric properties of the competency scale for primary care managers in Thailand.MethodsThe scale was developed using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions among policy makers, managers, practitioners, village health volunteers, and clients. The specific dimensions were extracted from 35 participants. 123 items were generated from the evidence and qualitative data. Content validity was established through the evaluation of seven experts and the original 123 items were reduced to 84 items. The pilot testing was conducted on a simple random sample of 487 primary care managers. Item analysis, reliability testing, and exploratory factor analysis were applied to establish the scale’s reliability and construct validity.ResultsExploratory factor analysis identified nine dimensions with 48 items using a five-point Likert scale. Each dimension accounted for greater than 58.61 % of the total variance. The scale had strong content validity (Indices = 0.85). Each dimension of Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.70 to 0.88.ConclusionsBased on these analyses, this instrument demonstrated sound psychometric properties and therefore is considered an effective tool for assessment of the primary care manager competencies. The results can be used to improve competency requirements of primary care managers, with implications for health service management workforce development.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12875-015-0388-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Objectives Early identification of palliative care (PC) needs is crucial to provide appropriate holistic care to patients. The objective of this integrative review is to synthesize the methods used to identify the prevalence of PC needs. Methods An integrative review search of the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) Plus with full text, ProQuest, Wiley InterScience, ScienceDirect, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science with publications from 2010 to 2020 was carried out in English. Empirical studies examining the methods used to determine the prevalence of PC needs were included. The methods of data extraction of the included articles were categorized by data source, study setting, and data collector. Quality appraisal was performed using QualSyst. Results Of the 5,410 articles screened, 29 were included in this review. Two articles identified the prevalence of PC needs in a community that was supported by a network of volunteers, while 27 studies considered this at a continent, country, hospital, and/or primary care facility level as represented by physicians, nurses, and researchers. Significance of results Various methods have been used to determine the prevalence of PC needs, and the outcomes are valuable for policymakers in developing PC services when allocating resources at the national and community levels. Future research to identify PC needs across health settings, especially primary care facilities, should consider providing PC across a spectrum of care settings.