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Practice Essentials

How to get started in quality improvement

BMJ 2019; 364 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k5437 (Published 17 January 2019) Cite this as: BMJ 2019;364:k5408

Linked opinion

The benefits of QI are numerous and the challenges worth overcoming

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Re: How to get started in quality improvement

Quality improvement initiatives in the healthcare sector can draw valuable lessons from the professionally-led, voluntary accreditation scheme for occupational health services, which is managed by the Royal College of Physicians of London on behalf of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine.
Since its launch in 2010, the scheme has successfully overseen the setting of quality standards in six key domains (namely business probity, information governance, people, facilities and equipment, relationships with purchasers, relationships with workers) and has provided independent accreditation to service providers that have objectively met these standards. Furthermore, the scheme has helped identify good practice so that it may be further built upon, has facilitated the improvement of sub-optimal practice and has been a catalyst in reducing variation and improving consistency across services. In addition to the core quality management system, a knowledge management system resource has been developed to underpin the standards and to share good practice.
The journey of quality improvement can be an immensely rewarding one, and services engaged in it can reap long-lasting benefits that go far beyond formal certification. At a personal level, the process enables participants to develop a whole set of new skills; at the team level it encourages teamwork and collaboration towards a shared goal; at a service level it changes the culture and mindset to one of continuous evaluation and improvement and directs the focus on improving outcomes for the population it serves.

Competing interests: No competing interests

19 January 2019
Anna Trakoli
Consultant in Occupational Medicine
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust