Quality improvement programs

Turn on more accessible mode. Turn off more accessible mode. Skip Ribbon Commands. Skip to main content. Assure sustainability: Achieving the goal of a QI project has little value if the improvement that was instituted cannot be maintained.

Efforts should be made to assure that the training and resources utilized during the project remain available after its completion. Girdler, S. The Science of Quality Improvement. JBJS Reviews, 4 8 , 1. Allwood, D. Creating space for quality improvement. BMJ, k Katakam, L. Identifying a quality improvement project. In Emergency Medical Services, this product is essentially the delivery of high-quality prehospital care.

This differs from quality assurance, which is more consistent with protocol, process, or policy compliance. Quality improvement programs typically work best in an environment that implements change through a robust, non-punitive education program.

Effective QI programs are transparent; both administration and clinical staff understand the goals and methods of any ongoing quality improvement project. Quality improvement programs often use Key Performance Indicators KPIs to measure ongoing clinical performance, identify areas for improvement, and assess the impact of process changes.

EMS systems should build their KPIs on clinical evidence, a perceived system deficit, or an operational need. The goal of QI is to develop a high-reliability organization that operates in a relatively error-free state over a long period of time. Examples of quality improvement projects include improving prehospital aspirin administration rates in patients with acute coronary syndromes, improving paramedic identification of STEMI, and decreasing peri-intubation hypoxia, among others.

Developing EMS systems have also successfully implemented continuous QI programs to specifically address pre-hospital trauma care, with significant improvement in pre-specified KPIs following targeted education.

Each of these projects began with identifying the need for improvement. They developed a plan that included a process change and a means for assessing the impact of that change. When developing a plan, consider three questions prior to choosing key performance indicators, and implementing any process improvement project or particular system. What is the aim? The aim should be very specific, evidence-based, and focus on patient-centric outcomes.

Additionally, effective QI practices and better patient outcomes make our practices successful in the following:. The process of QI revolves around some basic concepts. Let us now see what are those concepts in a detailed and elaborate manner:. This culture gets rooted again through practice in the form of behaviour and attitude, actions and mode of conduct. This would reflect on how passionately the quality is ensured by the practice team.

One needs to first identify and then understand ways in which the practices could be improved. Analyze your patient population closely- what are the barriers that give hindrance to care, what are the frequently treated chronic conditions, who are the groups of patients that are in high risk; and practice operations- what are the critical issues on the management front low motivation, long waiting time for patients, or is it the ineffective communication gaps.

To measure these factors to get an interference out of it, one needs to use already established quality measures. This lies at the very core of quality improvement.