189725 A framework and tool for understanding quality improvement efforts in public health departments: Experiences from the second Multi-State Learning Collaborative (MLC-2) evaluation

Tuesday, October 28, 2008: 1:10 PM

Brenda Joly, PhD, MPH , Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME
George Shaler, MPH , Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME
Maureen Booth, MRP , Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME
Jennifer McKeever, LCSW, MPH , National Network of Public Health Institutes, Washington, DC
This session will provide an overview of the second Multi-State Learning Collaborative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This Collaborative supported quality improvement efforts among 10 states conducting systematic performance assessment or accreditation programs. The findings have broad implications for the public health community including the potential to accelerate learning about the value and applicability of quality improvement in public health.

Evaluation findings will be discussed including a description of the internal and external factors that contributed to the adoption and application of quality improvement efforts. A typology will be presented depicting the continuum of stages of an agency's maturation related to quality improvement. As part of this typology the key organizational elements and processes will be described.

Learning Objectives:
1. Discuss the second Multi-State Learning Collaborative including specific efforts designed to facilitate the adoption and diffusion of quality improvement. 2. Understand the barriers and facilitating factors contributing to quality improvement in a health department. 3. Identify opportunities for assessing and strengthening quality improvement efforts in a local or state health department.

Keywords: Public Health Research, Public Health Infrastructure

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a faculty member at the University of Southern Maine and am currently serving as the PI on this project.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Collaborations Impacting Population Health
See more of: Health Administration