title: Hospital quality improvement in Ethiopia: a partnership-mentoring model.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Quality improvement efforts are increasingly common in the United States; however, their use in developing countries is limited. We sought to evaluate the impact of a large-scale intervention on several key management indicators through hospital quality improvement efforts.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pre-post-descriptive study of 14 hospitals in Ethiopia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six regions and two city administrations in Ethiopia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hospital leaders and management mentors in participating hospitals.
  
  
  METHODS
  In collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative, we implemented a countrywide quality improvement initiative in which 24 mentors with hospital administration experience were placed for 1 year in Ethiopia to work side-by-side with hospital management teams. We also provided a professional development course to enhance quality improvement skills.
  
  
  METHODS
  s) Presence of 75 key management indicators; reported management skills of hospital leaders by the mentors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In pre-post analysis, we found improvement in 45 of the 75 (60%) key management indicators between August 2006 and May 2007. The changes reflected a total of 105 management indicators improved across the 14 hospitals, which equates to a per-hospital mean of 7.5 (standard deviation 5.9) improvements. Reported management skills of hospital leaders improved in several management domains, although their reported confidence in these skills remained largely unchanged.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings indicate that quality improvement efforts can be effective in improving hospital management in developing countries. Longer follow-up is required to assess the sustainability of the hospital improvements accomplished.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Yale University, 60 College Street, New Heaven, CT 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: Kari A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Hartwig
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.forename: Emily J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Cherlin
authors.forename: Josh
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pashman
authors.forename: Rex
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dentry
authors.forename: W Edward
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Yigeremu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Abebe
mesh_terms: D005002:Ethiopia; D006740:Hospital Administrators / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards*; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008330:Management Audit / Q000379:methods; D008611:Mentors; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D013192:Staff Development / Q000379:methods