General Quality Improvement Resources

Below is a general list of resources to assist in quality improvement work at HMS hospitals. 

National Health Service (NHS) QI Resources

Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) QI Resources

Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) QI Resources

  • IHI Website
    • Main IHI Resources
    • Featured Tools
      • Quality Improvement Essentials Toolkit
        • IHI’s QI Essentials Toolkit includes the tools and templates you need to launch a successful quality improvement project and manage performance improvement. Each of the ten tools can be used with the Model for Improvement, Lean, or Six Sigma, and includes a short description, instructions, an example, and a blank template.
      • Patient Safety Essentials Toolkit
        • Designed and tested by IHI’s world-renowned safety experts, the Toolkit includes documents on improving teamwork and communication, tools to help you understand the underlying issues that can cause errors and valuable guidance about how to create and maintain reliable systems. Each of the nine tools includes a short description, instructions, an example, and a blank template.
      • SBAR Tool: Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation
        • The SBAR (Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation) technique provides a framework for communication between members of the healthcare team and can be used as a tool to foster a culture of patient safety.
      • IHI Global Trigger Tool for Measuring Adverse Events
        • The use of "triggers," or clues, to identify adverse events (AEs) is an effective method for measuring the overall level of harm in a healthcare organization.

In addition to these resources, IHI also provides self-paced courses, some of which are free.