• Maria Bundgaard, Dorte Ejg Jarbøl, Jens Søndergaard, Marius Brostrøm Kousgaard, Sonja Wehberg, and Line Bjørnskov Pedersen.
• Research Unit of General Practice, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, J.B. Winsløws vej 9A, 5000 Odense C, Denmark.
• Fam Pract. 2022 Sep 24; 39 (5): 852-859.

BackgroundQuality clusters were introduced as a quality improvement concept in Danish general practice in 2018. This new concept anchored quality improvement in local clusters managed by general practitioners (GPs).ObjectivesTo describe the cluster organization and GPs' self-reported benefits of participating in them and explore the associations between cluster organization and self-reported benefits.MethodsA national survey in Danish general practice gathering information about cluster organization (cluster size, cluster meetings, participants, and content) and GPs' self-reported benefits (overall benefit, internal changes in the clinic, and improved external collaboration).ResultsOne hundred and eight (95%) clusters and 1,219 GPs (36%) were included. Cluster size varied from 10 to 68 GPs (34 GPs on average). Approximately 70% of GPs reported moderate to very high overall benefit from cluster participation. Most GPs experienced changes in their clinic organization (68%), drug prescriptions (78%), and patient care (77%). Collaboration was reported improved between the GPs (86%), municipality (50%), and hospital (36.2%). GPs in clusters with 3-6 planned meetings per year (odds ratio [OR] 1.9; confidence interval [CI] 1.3-2.9), mixed meeting types (OR 1.7; CI 1.2-2.4), group work (OR 1.7; CI 1.1-2.5), and use of guidelines in their meetings (OR 1.8; CI 1.3-2.4) had statistically significantly higher odds for reporting overall benefit of participating in clusters compared with GPs in clusters without these characteristics.ConclusionsFrequent and active meetings with a relevant meeting content are positively related to GPs' perceived benefits and with improved collaboration between GPs in the clusters. There seems to be a potential for developing collaboration with other healthcare providers.© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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