Educating executives to integrate information management with quality improvement: a case study

Hamot Health Foundation has been committed to and active in continuous quality improvement (CQI) since 1990. These activities have progressed from introductory quality education to application of practical CQI initiatives with the overall objective to improve the quality of patient care. During 1993, the CQI process began to focus on identifying processes requiring care at Hamot. It took shape as a five-step action planning process that focused on data to identify goals and areas for improvement. To accomplish our goal of improving the delivery of care by trimming unnecessary processes, educating Hamot's leaders in information management and decision support became a critical component in the quality improvement effort.

This article describes the educational program established for vice presidents and service line managers who report to the executive vice president. It also describes how the program was designed to stimulate the use of decision support tools to meet organizational objectives. As a result of this program's success, all service lines are using decision support to support continuous quality improvement.