Quality Improvement
When assessing an organization’s readiness to undertake organization-wide practice and culture
changes for QI, consider traits fundamental to the success of QI, such as:
• Organizational commitment to QI
• Leadership’s knowledge of QI principles, methodologies and change management
• Communication channels between leadership, staff and teams that are effective and
functional
• Teamwork
Part 3: QI Programs – The Improvement Journey
When the QI team is assembled and prepared to integrate quality improvements into its
organization, the focus then becomes the actual implementation. This section describes QI
processes at a high operational level. The content is intended to provide answers for these
reflection questions, as an organization makes specific decisions about what it wants to improve
and how to actually accomplish the work:
• What are the desired improvements?
• How are changes and improvements measured?
• How is staff organized to accomplish the work?
• How can QI models be leveraged to accomplish improvements effectively and
efficiently?
• How is change managed?
More detailed and advanced content can be accessed by clicking on specific links to other
modules.
What Are the Desired Improvements?
In a health care organization, team members may suggest multiple areas that need ongoing
measurement or improvement. The first task is to focus on one or more improvement areas, but
it is recommended that no more than a few be selected. The following may be considered during
the process of selecting opportunities for improvement:
• What are the funding agency’s expectations; e.g., Bureau of Primary Health Care?
• What are the regulatory or monitoring agency’s requirements; e.g., OSHA and
accreditations agencies?
• What are the patients’ issues and concerns?
• What are the staff’s issues and concerns?
• What are the leadership’s priorities
