HOW DO QUALITY IMPROVEMENT (QI) TRAINING COURSES IN HEALTHCARE IMPROVE ORGANISATIONAL OUTCOMES?

Abstract

Training programs are also part of the strategy for healthcare institutions to provide healthcare practitioners, e.g. nurses, with teaching in the area of quality management (QI). Such training programs generally search for ways of encouraging experiential learning and applying this knowledge in practice. In spite of clinically-based QI training programs resulting from increased learning experience, there is a lack of knowledge on the effect of QI training programs on clinical outcomes, such as patient safety and inefficiency, which QI training can potentially improve. Traditionally, health QI training programs are structured to prepare medical residents for quality assurance and patient safety. However, recent QI training programs focused on nursing leadership growth and skills in QI. This research aimed to conduct a systematic review of quality improvement training course in healthcare, to critically appraise the evidence from research studies pertaining to the effectiveness of training courses or interventions to improve healthcare organisation outcomes in terms of better provision of healthcare. The systematic review found that QI intervention models such as PDSA, TQM and collaborative models have been commonly used by healthcare organisations that have learned from the clinical process and patient outcomes in both the general and Saudi settings. PDSA was previously reported to be an effective approach in improving health outcomes, though evidence of the adaptation of QI models is still unclear, as well as the evidence on the overlapping features, which were found to be underreported in the literature. To understand what approaches to QI can be used to improve the quality and efficiency of the provision of services, more independent research is needed.