Sustaining quality improvement in community health centers: perceptions of leaders and staff.
The Health Disparities Collaboratives are the largest national quality improvement (QI) initiatives in community health centers. This article identifies the incentives and assistance personnel believe are necessary to sustain QI. In 2004, 1006 survey respondents (response rate 67%) at 165 centers cited lack of resources, time, and staff burnout as common barriers. Release time was the most desired personal incentive. The highest funding priorities were direct patient care services (44% ranked no. 1), data entry (34%), and staff time for QI (26%). Participants also needed help with patient self-management (73%), information systems (77%), and getting providers to follow guidelines (64%).
Chin
Marshall H
MH
Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, The University of Chicago, IL 60637, USA. mchin@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu
Kirchhoff
Anne C
AC
Schlotthauer
Amy E
AE
Graber
Jessica E
JE
Brown
Sydney E S
SE
Rimington
Ann
A
Drum
Melinda L
ML
Schaefer
Cynthia T
CT
Heuer
Loretta J
LJ
Huang
Elbert S
ES
Shook
Morgan E
ME
Tang
Hui
H
Casalino
Lawrence P
LP
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002055:Burnout, Professional; D003151:Community Health Centers / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009013:Morale; D009042:Motivation; D040841:Resource Allocation; D017748:Time Management; D017749:Total Quality Management; D014481:United States; D035862:Vulnerable Populations / Q000208:ethnology