Managers' views and experiences of a large-scale county council improvement program: limitations and opportunities

The aim of this study was to explore and evaluate managers' views of a large-scale improvement program, including their experiences and opinions about improvement initiatives and drivers for change. The study is based on a survey used in 2 nationwide mappings of improvement initiatives and developmental trends in Swedish health care. The participants were all managers in a county council in Sweden. Data were analyzed descriptively, and statements were ranked in order of preferences. A majority of the respondents stated that they had worked with improvements since the county council improvement program started. The managers sometimes found it difficult to find data and measurements that supported the improvements, yet a majority considered that it was worth the effort and that the improvement work yielded results. The top-ranked driving forces were ideas from personnel and problems in the daily work. Staff satisfaction was ranked highest of the improvement potentials, but issues about patients' experiences of their care and patient safety came second and third. The managers stated that no or only a few patients had been involved in their improvement initiatives. Large-scale county council improvement initiatives can illuminate quality problems and lead to increased interest in improvement initiatives in the health care sector.