Quality Improvement, Productivity, and Program Evaluation

Define quality so that a team can measure it

Quality management turns an important aim into a reproducible system. Begin with the customer or patient need, the process boundaries, the current performance, and the harm or waste created by the gap. Write an aim that names the population, metric, direction, target, and deadline. Then define each measure so two trained observers would count the same event. Specify numerator, denominator, inclusion and exclusion criteria, data source, collection frequency, responsible person, and display method. A percentage without a denominator can hide volume changes, and an average can hide dangerous outliers. Stratify results when overall performance could conceal inequity by site, shift, language, race, disability, payer, or another relevant factor.