Culture Sets Stage for Quality Improvement
Across the board, respondents emphasized that a supportive hospital culture is key to making important advances in quality improvement.
They identified several key strategies that help foster quality improvement, including:
• Supportive hospital leadership actively engaged in the work
• Setting expectations for all staff—not just nurses—that quality is a shared responsibility
• Holding staff accountable for individual roles
• Inspiring and using physicians and nurses to champion efforts
• Providing ongoing, visible and useful feedback to engage staff effectively.
While respondents acknowledged these are important factors, there was considerable variation in the extent to which each hospital in the four communities has been able to incorporate these strategies into their individual cultures.