Quality Improvement Projects
In the late 2000’s excessive mortality rates came to light at Stafford Hospital. Subsequent investigations revealed appalling quality care. Several reports were commissioned by the government including one by Don Berwick, previous president of the US-based Institute for Health Improvement. He said;
“The most important single change in the NHS in response to this report would be for it to become…. a system devoted to continual learning and improvement of patient care, top to bottom and end to end.” A promise to learn - a commitment to act. August 2013
QIPs are your opportunity to buy into that vision - of continual learning and improvement of patient care. Because of that aim the Gold Guide, the reference for postgraduate speciality training, states:
- ‘Trainees must engage with systems of quality management and quality improvement in their clinical work and training’ [7.32]
- 'trainees must take part in regular and systematic clinical audit or quality improvement’ [7.32].
What does HEEM say:
Those QI projects that are rejected by the ARCP panel are usually rejected because of the way they are written up with insufficient reflection on the learning. The project needs to be presented to the practice and have an "impact" on the way the practice cares for their patients. Projects written up at the last minute can end up just being data collection with no plan on how to take things forward.
QIPs which show good understanding of a problem, large or small, evaluate potential harms and consider small, quick, testable solutions that have an impact will do well. QIPs can be fun to do and present an opportunity for GP Registrars to leave a mark on their practice when they leave. The best may be eligible for a £100 QIP award, created by the Chesterfield Training Programme Directors, given to any original and innovative project which contributes to patient care. For more information click here. The closing date is 30th June each year.
Our FAQ sheet can be found here.
The RCGP presentation “How to Do a QIP” can be found here.
Examples of QIPs from the East Midlands can be found here
For Links to other organisations involved in QI see the Network section of this website…
http://www.tiny.cc/resourcesqi
Link to WPBA New Developments - scroll down page for QI information
https://www.rcgp.org.uk/training-exams/training/mrcgp-workplace-based-assessment-wpba/wpba-new-developments.aspx