Is medical perspective on clinical governance practices associated with clinical units' performance and mortality? A cross-sectional study through a record-linkage procedure.

Objective: Assessment of the knowledge and application as well as perceived utility by doctors of clinical governance tools in order to explore their impact on clinical units' performance measured through mortality rates and efficiency indicators.

Methods: This research is a cross-sectional study with a deterministic record-linkage procedure. The sample includes n = 1250 doctors (n = 249 chiefs of clinical units; n = 1001 physicians) working in six public hospitals located in the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy.