What is Quality Improvement (QI)?
Quality Improvement can be defined as follows:
The commitment to continuously improve the quality of healthcare, focusing on the preferences and needs of the people who use services
It encompasses a set of values, which include a commitment to self-reflection, shared learning, the use of theory, partnership working, leadership, and an understanding of context
It encompasses a set of methods, which include measurement, understanding variation, cyclical change, benchmarking, and a set of tools and techniques
Source: Royal College of General Practitioners of United Kingdom
From theory to practice
The approach proposed by the Health Quality Academy involves several essential steps. In summary, steps 1 and 2 prepare the groundwork, steps 3 to 5 define the problem and develop change ideas, while steps 6 and 7 test and implement the change. By following this approach, teams adopt a simple yet rigorous and comprehensive approach that improves the likelihood that changes result in lasting improvement in their practice.
The Model for Improvement by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is one of the most widely used QI models worldwide in healthcare. It serves as a roadmap that provides teams with a solid foundation for any improvement initiative. The Health Quality Academy took inspiration from this model to develop its educational program to contribute to the integration of a QI culture in clinical care settings.