249922 Implementing Organization-Wide Quality Improvement Starts with a Plan

Tuesday, November 1, 2011: 8:30 AM

Sonja Armbruster, MAC , Health Protection and Promotion, Sedgwick County Health Department, Wichita, KS
Ty Kane, MPH , Health Protection and Promotion, Sedgwick County Health Department, Wichita, KS
John W. Moran, PhD, CQM , Quality Improvement, Public Health Foundation, Washington, DC
Ron Bialek, MPP , Public Health Foundation, Washington, DC
There are many compelling reasons to engage in formal quality improvement activities: overcoming barriers to desired outcomes, streamlining processes, conserving resources, empowering staff, and most recently, for local, state, tribal, and territorial health department accreditation.

This session will provide participants with a template and process for developing an organization-wide Quality Improvement Plan. Presenters will seek to simplify the process by providing a clear framework and a case study example from the Sedgwick County (KS) Health Department. The rationale for Quality Improvement Plans will be established and key terms that guide the process will be defined. This session will be highly interactive as participants build the component parts of a Quality Improvement Plan. One key component of the plan that will receive focused attention will be an organization's plan for quality improvement training. Participants will gain an understanding about the elements of a Quality Improvement Plan and will leave the session with draft beginnings of components of the plan.

Not only is the Quality Improvement Plan a required element of the Public Health Accreditation Board's standards, such plans can be used by any organization to improve organizational and individual performance.

Learning Areas:
Administration, management, leadership
Public health administration or related administration
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
1. Define a Quality Improvement Plan 2. Explain how the use of a Quality Improvement Plan provides clear scope and direction for all agency quality improvement work

Keywords: Quality Improvement, Accreditation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: develops and implements quality improvement programs
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.