OCHREStreams
The Improvement Foundation Consortium (IFC), a business venture between the Improvement Foundation and OBS, were contracted by the Australian Government through the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (OATSIH) in September 2010 to build and deliver a web based reporting tool for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services.
The Online Community Health Reporting Environment known as OCHREStreams is now fully functional. From 29 February 2012 health services participating in the Healthy for Life and Australian Family-Nurse Partnership Programs will be required to submit their program reports via OCHREStreams.
The aim of OCHREStreams is to ease the burden of reporting for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services, by streamlining the various processes including both paper-based and online. Health services can also use OCHREStreams to monitor and improve the quality of services provided to their communities, and work with other groups and organisations to improve health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
For more information about OCHREStreams, visit www.ochrestreams.org.au or contact the OCHREStreams help desk on 1800 627 820 (TOLL FREE within Australia), or email helpdesk@ochrestreams.org.au. For enquiries directed to the Department of Health and Ageing, Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health please email OCHREStreams_Enquiries@health.gov.au.
Last Updated 19 December 2011
What is the Model for Improvement?
The Model for Improvement provides a framework for developing, testing and implementing changes. It helps to break down a change effort into small, manageable chunks which are then tested to ensure that things are improving and that no effort is wasted. It is always worth remembering that while every improvement is certainly a change, every change is not an improvement.
The Model for Improvement consists of two equal parts; the first part, the “thinking part”, consists of three fundamental questions to guide improvement work:
- What are we trying to accomplish?
- How will we know that a change is an improvement?
- What changes can we make that will result in an improvement?
For more information about the Model for Improvement visit: http://apcc.org.au/about_the_APCC/the_model_for_improvement/
What is the Collaborative Methodology?
Adapted from the Institute of Healthcare Improvement’s Breakthrough Series Collaborative methodology, in the Australian context, the Collaborative methodology is used as a framework for the APCC Program. This methodology has been applied to a wide range of management challenges. Originally applied to healthcare systems in the USA, it has since been adopted in other countries, including the UK, Scotland, Canada and New Zealand.
The Collaborative methodology is proven to be highly effective in achieving large scale systems change and demonstrating measurable outcomes. It provides a generic quality improvement model that can be applied to achieve incremental, rapid and locally relevant improvements across a broad range of clinical and practice business issues.