Quality Improvement

This study explored which characteristics of health worker quality improvement collaboratives were related to changes in healthcare for patients with anxiety disorders, dual diagnosis, or schizophrenia. [adapted from abstract]

This paper presents data on the views of midwives from one maternity unit in England following the introduction of an organisation wide quality improvement initiative to improve in-patient postnatal care and processes to transfer women home. As quality improvement initiatives are highly influenced by the context into which they are introduced and by the processes of implementation, our findings may support others to address how clinician engagement could be enhanced. [adapted from author]

The Peruvian Ministry of Health approved the Policy Guidelines on Human Resources in Health to address important aspects such as training tailored to the needs of the country, development of competencies, decentralized management of human resources, motivation, and commitment. This summary outlines the process of implementing this political and strategic framework for carrying out programs to develop human potential with a competency-based approach. [adapted from author]

This report documents how the use of performance and quality improvement (PQI), a technique for achieving desired performance at service delivery sites and within communities, has helped to improve skilled attendance, and shares some lessons learned about how best to use PQI in safe motherhood programs. [adapted from aouthor]

The primary purpose of the Data for Improvement and Clinical Excellence Long-Term Care (LTC) project is to assess the effects of a quality improvement audit with feedback intervention delivered monthly over 13 months to healthcare workers in four LTC facilities. [adapted from abstract]

This study evaluates the impact and sustainability of a competitive voucher program on the quality of reproductive health care for poor and underserved female adolescents and the usefulness of the simulated patient method for such evaluation. [from abstract]

This handbook contains the complete set of resources and tools required to introduce and maintain a performance and quality improvement process at primary health care centers in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan including: facilitator’s guide; performance improvement review process and tools; monitoring and support guide; and monitoring tools and forms handbook. [adapted from introduction]

This document details the results of a study to determine whether a quality improvement package designed to enable small-scale commercial reproductive health service providers to improve the quality of services provided through self-assessment, action-planning, and supervisors’ support is effective in improving service quality. [adapted from sbatract]

This presentation outlines a methodology to improve quality and accessibility of health care with greater involvement of the community in defining, implementing and monitoring the quality improvement process.

A number of low- and middle-income countries have a severe shortage of health workers. This paper studies how health workers’ choices of labour supply and work effort impact on the quality of health services when health workers are in short supply. [from abstract]

This article discusses the agenda for monitoring and improving the quality of health care through the use of clinical governance in National Health Service organizations in the UK. [adapted from introduction]

This fact sheet highlights approaches to improving quality of care that can be rapidly implemented, over months rather than years, without great cost. The author writes that better quality can improve health much quicker than other drivers of health, such as economic growth, educational advancement, or new technology. [adapted from introduction]

In Senegal, traditional supervision often focuses more on collection of service statistics than on evaluation of service quality. This approach yields limited information on quality of care and does little to improve providers’ competence. In response to this challenge, Management Sciences for Health (MSH) has implemented a program of formative supervision. This multifaceted, problem-solving approach collects data on quality of care, improves technical competence, and engages the community in improving reproductive health care. [abstract]

One of the most important steps in the Performance Improvement Approach is the performance needs assessment (PNA). The PNA focuses on understanding the environment in which service providers work, i.e. the different systems within an organization that affect their performance, as well as the client and community perspectives which influence their family planning access. The performance factors, or those elements that providers need to be able to perform well, are the framework that guides the PI approach and what the PNA is geared to capture. [author’s description]

This is a QI package for the private sector that includes a review of service statistics, accompanying a QI self-assessment tool for midwives to identify quality issues, and a linked action plan for midwives and supervisors to help solve issues the QI tool identifies. [publisher’s description]

The task of improving quality is a demanding job. It requires focusing on clients, using data, working collaboratively with other team members, and maintaining an overarching view of the health system in which we work. Benchmarking is a process for finding, adapting, and applying best practices. [adapted from author]

The purpose of this newly revised manual and accompanying toolbook is to assist health care providers working in emergency obstetric care (EmOC) settings to improve the quality of services within their facility. With whatever resources are at hand, quality improvement (QI) processes can help staff change and improve practices and conditions and, in so doing, have a significant impact on pregnancy outcomes. [publisher’s description]

This guidance was developed to help staff of the ACQUIRE Project understand and explain to counterparts and field partners the improvement approaches and tools used by ACQUIRE. ACQUIRE brings together partners with proven, effective approaches to improving provider performance and the quality of services and to mobilizing communities to drive improvements in health care: performance improvement, quality improvement, and participatory learning and action.

The goals of this presentation include introducing the performance improvement (PI) approach, framework and factos influencing performance; how PI works; and the benefits of using PI. [adapted from author]

This case study describes how healthcare providers in Nicaragua worked together to improve the quality of obstetric care at their health centers and posts. They began by measuring the extent to which staff performed according to standards. Once aware of the quality gaps, they formed QI teams and used rapid team problem solving to implement quality improvements so that healthcare providers could perform according to obstetric standards. Continuous monitoring shows their success in meeting the standards and improving health outcomes. [author’s description]

This user’s guide contains materials needed to design and implement the Quick Investigation of Quality (QIQ) in a given country. QIQ refers to the set of three related data collection instruments designed to monitor 25 indicators of quality of care in clinic-based family planning programs. This volume includes an overview of the QIQ (including objectives, short list of indicators, and methodological and ethical issues), guidelines for sampling and training of field personnel, instruments and guidelines for data collection and summary results from short list of indicators (tabular and graphic forms).

The methodology for improving quality in healthcare has evolved rapidly over the past decade. This has come about as a result of several factors: the large number of field experiences that have taken place in many countries worldwide and in a variety of different areas and specialities in healthcare delivery; the increasing complexity of healthcare delivery and with that the emerging new needs for efficient and cost-effective care; the increased expectations of our customers; and lastly, the advances in our knowledge on improvement, management, and clinical practice.

Health systems in industrialized countries are having success with new approaches for evaluating and improving care delivered by clinicians in ambulatory care settings. Described herein is a program which awards recognition to individual physicians or physician groups who deliver high-quality, cost-effective care. [from author’s description]