MGH Guides: Healthcare Administration (MHA): Quality Improvement

Quality Improvement Resources

Quality Improvement (QI) is "the framework we use to systematically improve the ways care is delivered to patients". This framework is often used as a basis for DNP capstone projects. As such, highlighted here are QI resources that can help you become more familiar with the process and use it in your own work.

AHRQ Approaches to Quality Improvement
An in depth explanation of Quality Improvement from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
AHRQ Quality Measure Tools & Resources
Quality improvement measurement, tools, and information, including AHRQ Quality Indicators Hospital Toolkit, ambulatory clinical performance measures, and TalkingQuality.
SQUIRE: Standards for QUality Improvement REporting
Learn more about the SQUIRE guidelines, a framework for reporting new knowledge about how to improve healthcare.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Resources
To help you with your improvement efforts, IHI offers free tools, change ideas, measures to guide improvement, IHI White Papers, audio and video, improvement stories, and more.
JAMA Article: How to use an article about quality improvement
Fan, E., Laupacis, A., Pronovost, P. J., Guyatt, G. H., & Needham, D. M. (2010). How to use an article about quality improvement. JAMA, 304(20), 2279–2287. https://phstwlp2.partners.org:3267/10.1001/jama.2010.1692
Quality Improvement Minimum Quality Criteria Set (QI-MQCS): a tool for critical appraisal of quality improvement intervention publications
The QI-MQCS is a validated tool to help you appraise published QI research. This page has the original article about its development. The supplementary material contains the manual for how to use the tool.

BMJ Quality & Safety
Provides essential information on how to reduce harm and increase patient safety worldwide; it reflects and reports on the latest quality improvement initiatives within health care.
Journal for Healthcare Quality
The Journal for Healthcare Quality is an indispensable resource for healthcare professionals. It publishes scholarly articles that are targeted to leaders of all healthcare settings, leveraging applied research and producing practical, timely and impactful evidence in healthcare system transformation.
Journal of Nursing Care Quality
The fundamental purpose of the Journal of Nursing Care Quality (JNCQ) is to keep practicing nurses and those who play leadership roles in nursing care quality programs fully current on the utilization of quality principles and concepts in the practice setting. JNCQ explores the many different issues and challenges that nursing leaders face, and offers cutting-edge examples and case studies, how-to features on the latest innovations, and proven quality care strategies and solutions.
The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety
A peer-reviewed publication dedicated to providing health professionals with the information they need to promote the quality and safety of health care.