Clinical quality improvement: getting physicians involved

Through support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through its program, "Improving the Quality of Hospital Care," the Vermont Program for Quality in Health Care (VPQHC) has developed a quality improvement model that hastens learning through knowledge sharing. Using guidelines and other quality improvement techniques, VPQHC works with hospitals and practitioners to improve not only hospital processes of care but also clinical management. This article describes the concepts driving the program, using an example, and describes the program's success in involving physicians in the process.