Quality Improvement Capacity in a Department of Family Medicine: A Mixed-Methods Study

Quality improvement capacity is defined as ongoing commitment to sustained quality improvement (QI) and requires knowledge of QI methods and commitment to QI activities from practice leadership and staff. The aim of this project was to identify the major facilitators and barriers to developing quality improvement capacity in a teaching practice of a department of family medicine.

We conducted an exploratory, sequential, mixed-methods study, inviting key informants to participate in qualitative interviews and then conducting a survey of faculty, resident physicians, and staff at a community residency teaching practice affiliated with an academic medical center in the Midwest United States.

Among 12 qualitative key informant interviewees, facilitators of QI capacity included a strong motivation to provide high-quality care and a desire to leverage team-based care in QI interventions. Barriers included competing clinical and educational priorities, lack of faculty expertise in quality and scholarship, and lack of infrastructure to turn QI into scholarship. The survey response rate was 75% (48 of 64 total team members). The most common motivation for participation in QI work was "making a difference" (41, 85%), while the biggest barriers were prioritization of patient care (25, 53%), and teaching (19, 40%).

This mixed-methods study identified key barriers and facilitators to QI capacity, of which addressing competing priorities, improving QI training, and creating infrastructure for scholarship may improve QI capacity.