SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
As improving quality processes and patient outcomes become more important public policy issues in the evolving world of health care reform, both in the United States and abroad, the need will increase for a better understanding of quality improvement theories-of what seems to work and what does not-and for identifying the key organizational and environmental factors that appear to make a difference. This study provides a conceptual and empirical foundation for such further explorations by establishing a relationship between culture, QI implementation, perceived patient outcomes of care, and selected measures of clinical efficiency. Further research is needed to (1) address issues of the relationship between CQI implementation, specific clinical processes of care, and objectively derived clinical and patient outcome measures; (2) examine whether sub-units of health care organizations can achieve "pockets of improvement" in the absence of an organization-wide cultural commitment ( Group Health Incorporated Progress Notes 1993; Speroff 1993); (3) determine the exact mechanisms or processes by which group and developmental cultures operate to improve quality (Sheridan et al. 1994); and (4) examine differences between early and later adopters of CQiff QM.