title: Differentiating quality improvement from research.
abstract: Monitoring of quality of care has always been an important part of health care. Self-regulation and external standards require care providers to furnish safe environments for the patient. Similarities in methods used by quality improvement (QI) projects and clinical research have created some confusion in differentiating the two practices. This article reviews the current literature and differences between QI and research. In addition, the article identifies and discusses four criteria: intervention, risk, audience, and data source, which allow investigators to differentiate between the two practices and follow the appropriate procedures for project review.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing at Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
authors.forename: Anita C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Reinhardt
authors.forename: Leslie N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Ray
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D015399:Nursing Research / Q000379:methods*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D012107:Research Design; D014481:United States