Authors (including presenting author) :
Fung HT (1), Ma WL (1)
Affiliation :
(1)Occupational Therapy Department, Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Introduction :
Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) System was developed in Occupational Therapy Department of Queen Elizabeth Hospital since 2015.
Objectives :
The aim of developing such system is to adopt a structured organizational process that involves in planning and implementing ongoing improvement projects in our daily practice to ensure patient safety and standard of care. It also helps to nourish the culture of quality improvement throughout the department.
Methodology :
CQI is not a stand-alone system in our department. It interconnects with other Quality and Safety systems including Risk Management system, Incidents Management system and Audit system. At the beginning, projects were initiated after problems identified. As there was increasing staff involvement and commitment to the system, project initiation became more proactive. Projects were generated once improvement ideas were found during operational meeting.
A team with assigned project leader and responsible members will be formed to be responsible for the iterative improvement process. After the project was completed, a formal report was needed and the projects will be submitted to the Hospital Authority CQI system for sharing and communicating with the organization. Some of the projects may fall into the audit cycle to perform periodic audits for three years to continue monitoring and shaping the behavior of staff. Biannual CQI presentations will be conducted to strengthen communication between staff. It can also heighten therapists' awareness on the importance of quality improvement and deepen their understanding of the latest projects.
For the succession of the CQI culture, CQI coordinator was nominated and worked closely together with the management. The main job duty is responsible for regular coordination, overseeing a spectrum of projects from initiation till completion, monitoring the project progress and regular communication with related personnel.
Result & Outcome :
Total sixty-two CQI projects were initiated. Fifty-four projects were completed and eight of them are still in progress. Sixty-three percent of projects were related to clinical practice and forty-seven percent were related to service support and management. Seventy-seven percent of projects were one-off in nature. Twenty-three percent had fallen into the audit cycle to ensure the implementation and sustainability of certain change and improvement.
It is believed that the entire system could not be run by a single person. Committed teamwork with effective communication and substantial leadership support are the key to success in making significant and sustainable improvements. Therefore, it is of great importance to have good culture of CQI throughout the department.
