Quality improvement research in primary care

Abstract

Quality improvement (QI) appeals to those who work and research in primary care because of its potential to achieve the 'quadruple aim': improved health outcomes, improved patient experience, reduced costs and increased joy in work. QI can reduce suffering and waste by providing practical solutions to problems that practitioners and patients face every day. Primary care faces many challenges in getting evidence into practice in busy clinical contexts. Quality improvement research (QIR) aims to apply rigorous scientific enquiry to improvement work in order to identify strategies that maximise the chance of good outcomes for patients and health workers. A quality improvement researcher in primary care has two essential roles: supporting teams to plan well designed quality-improvement interventions and designing rigorous evaluations of quality improvement interventions. The chapter provides guidance on these two roles and discusses some issues unique to QIR, including the tension between research and quality improvement, ethics approval and publication challenges.