When implementing improvements, it is important to engage your entire office staff—both clinical and non-clinical—in the improvement efforts. We have found the following two components are critical to bringing about sustainable improvements:
- Provide training to clinicians and staff. Make sure that everyone in the practice understands the monitoring activities in place. Individuals playing a role in collecting and reporting information need to understand precisely what data they need to collect and report and how to do so.
- Use the monitoring results to inform decisions about how your practice can improve care. At regular intervals, review the information generated by your monitoring efforts. Where are you seeing improvements? What changes would you like to make to improve patient care even more?
Note that the term "systems" does not necessarily involve an elaborate operational structure. Good systems often simply outline how specific tasks are accomplished and who is responsible, and ensure that the necessary tools and training are available to support the responsible individual(s).
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