Fourteen years of quality improvement education in healthcare: a utilisation-focused evaluation using concept mapping

[摘要] Background The need for training in quality improvementfor healthcare staff is well acknowledged, but long-termoutcomes of such training are hard to evaluate. Behaviourchange, improved organisational performance andresults are sought for, but these variables are complex,multifactorial and difficult to assess.Aim The purpose of this article is to explore the personaland organisational outcomes identified by participantsover 14 years of university-led QI courses for healthcareprofessionals.Method Inspired by the Kirkpatrick model for evaluation,we used concept mapping, a structured mixed method thatallows for richness of data to be captured and visualisedby inviting stakeholders throughout the process. In total,331 previous course participants were included in thestudy by responding to two prompts, and 19 stakeholderstaking part in the analysis process by doing the sorting.Result Two maps, one for personal outcomes and one fororganisational outcomes, show clusters of the responsesfrom previous course participants and how the outcomesrelate to each other in meta-clusters. Both maps showpossible long-term outcomes described by the previouscourse participants.Conclusion The results of this study indicate that it ispossible that training in quality improvement with a strongexperiential pedagogical approach fosters a long-termimprovement capability for the course participants and,even more important, a long-term improvement capability(and increased improvement skill) in their respectiveorganisations.

[学科分类] 药学