Below are links to references and tools to assist you in conducting practice improvement activities.

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References

Links to general and rheumatology-specific publications regarding practice improvement:  

Harrington JT, Newman ED. Redesigning the care of rheumatic diseases at the practice and system levels. Part 1: practice level process improvement (Redesign 101). Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2007 Nov-Dec;25(6 Suppl 47):55-63.

Newman ED, Harrington JT. Redesigning the care of rheumatic diseases at the practice and system levels. Part 2: system level process improvement (Redesign 201). Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2007 Nov-Dec;25(6 Suppl 47):64-8.

Yazdany J, MacLean CH. Quality of care in the rheumatic diseases: current status and future directions. Curr Opin Rheumatol. 2008 Mar;20(2):159-66.

Berwick DM. A primer on leading the improvement of systems. BMJ. 1996 Mar 9;312(7031):619-22.

Kahn KL, MacLean CH, Liu H, Rubenstein LZ, Wong AL, Harker JO, Chen WP, Fitzpatrick DM, Bulpitt KJ, Traina SB, Mittman BS, Hahn BH, Paulus HE. Application of explicit process of care measurement to rheumatoid arthritis: Moving from evidence to practice. Arthritis Rheum. 2006 Dec 15;55(6):884-91.

The Breakthrough Series: IHI's Collaborative Model for Achieving Breakthrough Improvement. IHI Innovation Series white paper. Boston: Institute for Healthcare Improvement; 2003.

Going Lean in Health Care. IHI Innovation Series white paper. Cambridge, MA: Institute for Healthcare Improvement; 2005.

Quality-focused organizations

Links to national quality organization websites containing quality improvement resources:

Institute for Healthcare Improvement  

AHRQ Healthcare Innovations Exchange  

AHRQ Quality Information and Improvement  

AHRQ Health Information Technology  

Institute of Medicine: Quality and Patient Safety