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  2. Introduction to Quality Improvement
  3. Overview of the course

Overview of the course

Welcome to UCLPartners introduction to quality improvement online modules.  These modules will help provide both knowledge and practical support to help you understand what quality improvement (QI) is and support you to implement your own QI project. 

Watch: Introduction to the course

What is Quality Improvement? 

  • Quality improvement (QI) is about improving patient (and population) outcomes, system performance and professional development through creating change in behaviours, working together, change coming from the bottom up, creative thinking and fundamentally, using measurement to guide improvement. 
  • The Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has developed the Model for Improvement (MFI) which is one type of QI methodology. The MFI is being successfully adopted in many healthcare settings to improve patient care. 

The IHI Model for Improvement 

The model for improvement has two parts: 

  • Three fundamental questions 
  • The Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycle to test changes and determine if the change is an improvement 

The three questions are: 

  1. What are we trying to accomplish?  
  1. How will we know that a change is an improvement?  
  1. What changes can we make that will result in an improvement? 

This online course will cover: 

  • Stakeholder engagement 
  • Partnering with patients, carers and the public 
  • Creating and building a shared purpose 
  • The value in Aim setting 
  • How to create a SMART aim 
  • Understanding and creating driver diagrams 
  • How to process map and the benefits  
  • How will we know a change is an improvement? 
  • An introduction to measurement for improvement 
  • An overview of types of measures 
  • The importance of baseline data 
  • How to interpret and display your data 
  • Understanding variation 
  • Creative thinking and generating ideas 
  • Edward de Bonos six thinking hats 
  • Generating change ideas 
  • Testing change through PDSA cycles 
  • Sustaining improvement 

Alongside our online modules, we have our resources section which is equipped with case studies, examples and activities to complete alone or within teams to help increase understanding regarding QI.  We also have our Guidebook which provides a comprehensive explanation of each online module, and our workbook to be used alongside the online modules to provide practical support. 

Resources

The link below will take you to Module 1.  In this module you will learn how to: 

  • Describe the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Model for Improvement 
  • Understanding how to plan for a QI project  
  • Stakeholder mapping  
  • Understanding how to create a team and engage others