An Accreditation Maintenance Tool
January 30, 2014
The Oklahoma City-County Health Department (OCCHD) is a trailblazer during these initial years of public health accreditation. Among the first health departments to be accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), OCCHD continues to innovate and share, providing a living example of continuous...
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Rhode Island Uses Quality Improvement to Prepare for Domain 8
September 3, 2013
While quality improvement (QI) takes center stage in the Public Health Accreditation Board’s (PHAB) Domain 9, QI has an important role to play throughout the accreditation cycle. This case story shows how one state health department learned and applied QI to help prepare the department for Domain 8,...
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Excuses for Not Practicing Quality Improvement
January 4, 2013
This article, published by the Process Excellence Network, uses the "Five Whys" quality improvement tool to discover why people provide excuses for not practicing quality improvement. The Five Whys is one of 75 quality improvement tools in PHF's Public Health Quality Improvement Encyclopedia.
Additional...
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Public Health Quality Improvement Encyclopedia
June 5, 2012
Quality improvement (QI) in public health is the use of a deliberate and defined improvement process, such as Plan-Do-Check-Act, which is focused on activities that are responsive to community needs and improving population health. It is essential for health departments to use QI tools to fulfill their...
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3-Step Competency Prioritization Sequence
February 13, 2012
The Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals (Core Competencies) define a broad array of professional development areas a public health organization may wish to consider in designing and executing a workforce development plan—a key requirement for Public Health Department Accreditation. However,...
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TRAIN Accreditation Webinar Series
January 5, 2012
Even though public health plays a critical role in the United States, there has not been a national accreditation program to confirm that public health departments are providing and constantly advancing the quality of services delivered to their communities, until now.1 Incorporated in 2007, the Public...
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The ABCs of PDCA
September 10, 2010
The ABCs of PDCA, written by Grace Gorenflo and John W. Moran in April 2010, is an introduction to quality improvement (QI) through the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle (PDCA). This QI tool maps a process to help improve processes and eliminate inefficiencies in health departments. The article demonstrates the...
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Guide to the Stages of Performance Management
Performance management is a systematic process that helps an organization achieve its mission and strategic goals. While critical, performance management is often an elusive practice for public health organizations; building a robust performance management culture can be daunting and frustrating. It...
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The Genie is Out of the Bottle: From "little qi" to "Big QI"
The myth of Aladdin conjures images of a bumpy yet thrilling carpet ride; for some, launching quality improvement (QI) efforts is a similar experience. In Chester County, PA, the health department began its QI journey in much the same way as other health departments: while preparing for voluntary public...
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