QI Project Overview
Healthcare organizations aim for consistent, high-quality care through standardized processes, reducing variation, predicting outcomes, and identifying areas for improvement. Undertaking a Quality Improvement (QI) project helps monitor clinical processes and answer the crucial question: “Are we making progress?”
Types of Variation
A QI project focuses on monitoring two types of variation: common cause variation and special cause variation
- Common Cause Variation: Predictable and inherent variations in the system (e.g., lab test variations due to equipment differences).
- Special Cause Variation: Unpredictable, external variations caused by non-random events (e.g., longer hospital stays due to unexpected epidemics).
Monitoring Tools
- Statistical control charts, such as Sheiwart control charts, help identify variation types.
Key QI Measures
Process Measures: Monitor adherence to widely accepted recommendations for clinical practice such as diabetic patients receiving blood glucose , HBA1c tests within a specific time or Hospitalization rates for specific medication prescriptions.
Outcome Measures: Assess intervention impact on patient conditions like Readmission rates for specific medications or mortality rates post-surgery.
Balancing Measures: Determine if improvements in one aspect affect other parts of the system such as an increase in substitute drug prescriptions while reducing opioid prescriptions.
These measures, monitored by statistical tools, ensures effective QI and predictable patient outcomes.