Applying TQM to community health improvement: nine works in progress

Traditionally, quality improvement principles have been used in business and healthcare settings. Nine North American cities, however, have demonstrated how these same QI principles can be applied to improving community health. Guided by a conceptual framework based on a three-question model and employing a Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, the communities were able to develop interventions that are bringing about change in targeted populations, ranging from reducing the number of suspensions from school due to violence among youths to improving post-neonatal mortality rates.