The Quality Improvement 101 Training Program

Summary

Impact Statement: 
The state health department developed a training program for public health staff at the state and local levels to apply continuous quality improvement in their delivery of public health services, in turn resulting in better health outcomes for the people of North Carolina.
Summary: 

The Center for Public Health Quality (CPHQ) piloted the Division of Public Health Quality Improvement 101 program, a 5–8 month program designed to train the NC Division of Public Health (NCDPH) workforce in applying continuous quality improvement (QI) tools and methods to make improvements in the services and programs they provide. Three teams (representing branches and departments) from the Division volunteered to participate in the pilot, including the Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Branch (HDSP), the Tobacco Prevention & Control Branch (TPCB), and Vital Records (VR), in addition to a team from a partner organization, the NC Institute for Public Health. CPHQ provided hands-on, experiential training and coaching to teams in applying QI methods (Model for Improvement and Lean) and tools to make targeted improvements in programmatic processes. In addition to quantitative data showing more efficient and effective processes and outcomes, these improvements also led to intangible benefits, such as improved employee morale and client/patient satisfaction, and freed up space, staff time, and resources to devote to better serving the public’s health.

Organization that conducted the QI initiative: 
North Carolina Center for Public Health Quality
Citation: 

Gary, T. Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange. The Quality Improvement 101 Training Program. Thu, 03/14/2013 - 15:43. Available at http://phqix.org/content/quality-improvement-101-training-program. Accessed March 29, 2024.

Submission Status: 
Completed
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Comments

mschigoda's picture
Submitted by mschigoda on

Great project - thanks for sharing!

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Melissa Schigoda, MS
Public Health Improvement Program Coordinator
National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI)

Submitted by acheney on

Thank you for writing up your project!
Our health department has been implementing mandatory Intro to QI training for the last few years and we are still struggling to find a manageable way to assess that staff are using QI tools in their daily work. Maybe I missed it in the write up, but could you speak to how you plan to measure that over time?

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Abigail Cheney

Submitted by MelanieJicha on

I found Lessons Learned particularly helpful. Can you expand on how you: "Empowering frontline staff to come up with the “how” to change or improve a process is key; frontline staff are the true experts for processes. "
Thanks

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Melanie Jicha

Submitted by margyrob on

I am curious whether the participants in the training were required to attend, or did they sign up out of their own interest?  We have just begun to provide a cursory introduction to QI at our New Employee orientation, and offer some introductory trainings - but do not have any mandatory trainings yet. 

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Margy Robinson MPH
HIV Care Services Mgr.
Multnomah County Health Dept.
Portland, OR