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What do we mean by quality improvement?
In service organisations, a definition of quality improvement could be:
- Continually working together to improve the experience and outcomes for users and the working lives of the staff who deliver it.
- Making improvements to products, systems or services requires change. Although change can seem threatening or overwhelming for busy people, it can be successfully managed if it is well planned.
IF guides and supports organisations through the change process using simple and practical quality improvement tools and techniques.
The Quailty Improvement Skills Program is well suited to teams working in general practice, divisions of general practice, hospitals, dental surgeries, pharmacies,local government, government organisations, emergency services, community services and education.
Last Updated 27 October 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.