Positive changes in healthcare through improvement teams discussed at WCM-Q

Strategies for facilitating the transformation of local healthcare through improvement teams and networks were discussed at the latest Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar (WCM-Q) grand rounds.
Dr Deborah White, full professor, dean and chief executive officer of University of Calgary in Qatar, gave a presentation explaining the capacity of high-performing teams for initiating positive change in healthcare, as well as the challenges facing them.
Speaking at WCM-Q to an audience of physicians, pharmacists, nurses and allied health professionals, Dr White identified various facilitators and barriers to the creation of quality and safety improvement teams, which are often termed “quality circles”.
She also explained the key skills required of clinicians and leaders as members of high-performing improvement teams, and the impact of shared culture, attitudes and beliefs on teams and improvement initiatives. In particular, Dr White said a shared commitment to quality must pervade not just entire teams but also entire organisations, and that this is facilitated by opportunities for multi-level engagement.
Dr White said, “Culture is really important and quality is everyone’s business, all the way from the people who do the cleaning in the hospital right through to the senior leadership. In some of my experiences going across Canada, that was demonstrated in the hospitals in quality circles where nurses, physicians and support workers all talked together about what they were doing. That sort of engagement at all levels is necessary as a platform for innovation and success.”
Dr White’s lecture also explained how to distinguish between a variety of different models, frameworks and approaches used to plan and implement improvement initiatives.
The lecture, titled Leading Local and Health System Transformation: Forming Teams from the Bedside, C-suite and the Community, was accredited locally by the Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners-Accreditation Department and internationally by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education.