How can leadership support quality improvement efforts?

There are several ways in which leadership can support QI efforts locally:

• Create a vision for quality by setting shared goals for performance
• Build staff capacity for quality improvement
• Build motivation for quality improvement
• Establish a quality improvement team
• Involve all staff who work in the targeted care area
• Dedicate time to measure clinic performance
• Provide time to openly discuss both successes and failures
• Make sure that the ‘voice’ of the client is heard and acted on
• Involve staff and clients in understanding data and making decisions based on it
• Use available existing resources to strengthen QI activities
• Include a budget for QI that provides for training

REFERENCES

Plsek PE. Quality improvement methods in clinical medicine. Pediatrics. 1999 Jan;103(1 Suppl E):203-14.