Continuous quality improvement: educating towards a culture of clinical governance
- S R Heard, dean of postgraduate medicine,
- G Schiller, researcher,
- M Aitken, project officer,
- C Fergie, assistant director of medical education,
- L McCready Hall, SpR anaesthetics
- Dr S R Heard sheard{at}londondeanery.ac.uk
Abstract
The National Health Service in England and Wales has recently adopted a policy aimed at embedding continuous quality improvement (CQI) at all levels and across all services. The key goal is to achieve changes in practice which improve patient outcomes. This paper describes the use of a training course for multiprofessional groups of participants tailored to offer them relevant knowledge, management and team working skills, and approaches to personal and career development. These were intended to assist them in changing their practice for the benefit of patients. The participants rated the course highly in fulfilling its objectives. One cohort followed up for 6 months named changes in practice which related specifically to learning from the course. This paper shows the important contribution of multiprofessional learning to CQI and presents a useful method of evaluating links between learning and performance.
