Quality improvement: an overview

Clinicians are being held accountable for the quality of the care they provide in an unprecedented way. Quality improvement (QI), a scientifically based method, can help health care managers and clinicians improve health care through the elimination of waste and inefficiency. QI is a comprehensive approach that is based on an understanding of variation and uses tools specifically designed to help professionals understand and improve processes. The article gives an overview of quality improvement as a useful method for improving the process of clinical practice. Improving the process of care is an important step toward achieving quality outcomes for all health care customers.