Quality improvement (QI)
What is Quality Improvement?
Quality Improvement (QI) is an activity undertaken with the purpose of reviewing, monitoring, evaluating, and improving the quality of services, processes, or experiences delivered at your practice.
Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN) is dedicated to assisting providers in engaging in quality improvement activities. This toolkit provides the information required to successfully carry out quality improvement by guiding you through a process of:
- ensuring quality data
- identifying areas for improvement
- planning QI activities
- implementing QI activities
- evaluating QI activities
Undertaking QI allows your practice to deliver improved care and health outcomes to people in your community, as well as improving staff wellbeing and increasing the sustainability of your business by reducing costs or finding new revenue streams.
In your practice, QI activities could focus on:
- safety – avoiding harm to patients
- effectiveness – providing evidence-based care and only providing services that are likely to be of benefit
- patient-centred care – providing care that is responsive to each individual patient’s preferences, needs, and values
- timeliness – reducing waiting times for care and avoiding harmful delays
- efficiency – avoiding waste
- equity – providing care of the same quality regardless of personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, location, or socio-economic status.
Support materials
How to build your QI team
To establish a dedicated Quality Improvement (QI) team in general practice, assemble a team that includes general practitioners (GPs), nurses, and administrative staff with clearly defined roles. This may consist of a team lead, QI facilitator, and data support. Each team member brings a unique perspective and sets of insights based on their role in the practice; these different viewpoints help the team fully understand a problem from all angles. This promotes a shared sense of ownership and builds a culture where everyone, regardless of role, feels responsible for improving care and outcomes.
For further information about assigning roles and responsibilities, refer to the QI Team Roles and Responsibilities resource.
Model for improvement
In a quality improvement activity, a Model for Improvement is a simple, yet powerful framework used to guide efforts to improve processes, services, or outcomes. It helps teams define goals, measure progress and test changes effectively. This model is widely used in healthcare and other industries and was popularised by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).
The model for improvement consists of two parts:
Part 1: Three fundamental questions
This is the ‘thinking’ part.
- What are we trying to accomplish?
- How will we know that a change is an improvement?
- What changes can we make that will result in improvements?
Part 2: the PDSA Cycle (Plan-Do-Study-Act)
The PDSA cycle – Plan, Do, Study, Act – is a simple, effective method for testing and implementing changes in processes to improve quality.
- Plan: Identify an area for improvement, set a goal, and plan a small change.
- Do: Test the change on a small scale.
- Study: Review data and feedback to see what worked and what didn’t.
- Act: Decide whether to implement the change more widely, adjust it, or try a different approach.
Plan-Do-Study-Act
The ‘doing’ part of the Model for Improvement is the PDSA Cycle (Plan-Do-Study-Act), it is a method for testing changes on a small scale before wider implementation.
In the Plan phase, the team identifies an area for improvement, sets clear goals, predicts outcomes, and decides how to measure success.
In the Do phase, the team conducts the test, recording observations and any challenges that arise.
In the Study phase, they review the data to see whether the change led to improvement.
Finally, in the Act phase, they decide whether to adopt the change more widely, adjust it and test again, or try a different approach based on the results.
SMART goals
SMART goal setting is a structured approach used in quality improvement activities to help plan and track progress effectively. Goals are designed to have Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound criteria, ensuring they are clear, realistic, and aligned with practice priorities. By using the SMART framework, practices can focus on meaningful improvements – such as enhancing patient care, increasing efficiency, or meeting accreditation standards. Applying the framework makes progress easier to monitor, evaluate, and sustain over time.
Data cleansing
High quality data is essential for successful quality improvement in general practice, as it ensures decisions are based on accurate and reliable information. Reviewing data to identify errors, duplicates, or missing details improves the accuracy of reports and enables practices to identify true gaps in care, monitor progress, and measure outcomes effectively. Clean, consistent data also supports accreditation, enhances patient safety, and builds confidence in quality improvement initiatives by ensuring the results reflect real practice performance.