A Quality Improvement Toolkit for Public Health
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Mounting an effective emergency response to a public health threat, such as a pandemic influenza, is a common challenge faced by state and local public health agencies across the country. Since 2001, the federal government has invested more than $6 billion to help public health agencies prevent, prepare for, and recover from bioterrorism and other large-scale health emergencies. While some progress has been made, more work remains to be done, and calls for performance accountability are increasing.
Quality improvement (QI) methods offer a way for public health departments to assess their current emergency preparedness activities, identify shortfalls, and improve performance. A QI approach is a systematic, data-driven, outcomes-based approach to organizational change. Originally developed in manufacturing, QI methods have been applied in many other fields, including health care, but have not been widely used in public health.
RAND developed an easy to use QI toolkit for public health emergency preparedness. PREPARE for Pandemic Influenza: A Quality Improvement Toolkit includes strategies, tips and resources designed to assist state and local public health departments of all sizes incorporate QI methods and promising improvement strategies into their current emergency preparedness activities. These improvement methods and strategies can also be applied to day-to-day health department activities.
The toolkit provides:
- A simple framework that illustrates how successful performance of key public health functions ensures an effective response to pandemic influenza and other public health emergencies
- A brief tutorial on QI methods
- Strategies to systematically review a public health agency's preparedness activities, identify areas in which to focus improvement efforts, and measure and improve the agency's preparedness capabilities
- Tips for using day-to-day public health activities to improve preparedness for pandemic influenza and other public health emergencies
- Success stories and promising practices from health departments across the country
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