Quality Improvement
- Quality Improvement (QI)
- Questions to ask about QI initiatives
- Culture of Quality
- Additional Resources:
Quality improvement is the use of a deliberate and defined improvement process. It refers to a continuous and ongoing effort to achieve measurable results. This could be improvements in the efficiency, effectiveness, performance, accountability, outcomes, and other indicators of quality services or processes which achieve equity and improve health.
Questions to ask about QI Initiatives:
- What are we trying to accomplish?
- How much did we do?
- How well did we do it?
- How will we know that there is an improvement?
Benefits of using QI:
- Increase Employee Empowerment
- Support Teamwork and Collaboration
- Visible Leadership
- Mindful of Customer Focus
- Continually Building QI Infrastructure
- Promoting Continuous Process Improvement
The culture of an organization is the embodiment of the core values, guiding principles, behaviors, and attitudes that collectively contribute to its daily operations. Culture drives the policies, practices, and processes used to accomplish an organization’s work. It matures over many years as norms are passed from one generation of staff to the next. IDOH has adopted the QI Roadmapfrom NACCHO to guide progress through the six phases of QI until a culture of quality is reached and sustainable. For each phase, the roadmap presents common organizational characteristics, strategies, and resources for transitioning to the next phase. Click here to download all Roadmap and Self-Assessment resources.
According to NACCHO’s roadmap to a Culture of Quality Improvement, the Indiana Department of Health is in “Phase 3: Informal or Ad Hoc QI” which indicates that:
- Executive leaders value QI but expectations are not consistently communicated to staff.
- Basic QI trainings/resources are available and QI champions exist but opportunities for QI are limited.
- A limited number of staff are performing QI and there is a QI council but a QI plan may not be adopted.
- Data is collected and monitored but not routinely applied in decision-making processes.
- A small number of processes are being improved through discrete QI projects but may take excessive time to complete.
