Accreditation practice pointer: quality improvement and patient safety

QI1.1 B Our practice team shares information internally about quality improvement and patient safety.

RACGP Standards for general practice, 5th Edition.

Quality improvement is an ongoing activity in general practice that ensures optimum primary healthcare is delivered. Therefore, general practices need a system that allows practice team members to identify and implement quality improvement activities, in order to meet Criterion QI1.1B.

Practices can encourage quality improvement activity by:

• including quality improvement as a standing agenda item at team meetings

• providing notice boards or suggestion boxes for the team to contribute their ideas

• keeping the team up to date with any system or process changes

• creating short surveys to get the team’s thoughts on initiatives

• keep a record of planning meetings where quality improvement activities are discussed.

Larger practices could also establish a quality improvement team responsible for implementing Quality Improvement activity.