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.
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Applying Performance Measurement to Public Health Policy Activities
August 7, 2012
The Public Health Foundation (PHF) and the American Public Health Association (APHA) have worked collaboratively to develop a new tool to help health departments assess and improve the performance of their policy activities. While other performance measurement and evaluation guides exist, this is...
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Performance Management Applications in Public Health
July 2, 2012
As part of the Turning Point Performance Management Refresh activity and the development of the Performance Management Toolkit, the Public Health Foundation (PHF) compiled examples of performance management applications in public health. These one-page overviews demonstrate how health departments have...
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Strategic Practice Selection Exercise
June 29, 2012
The Strategic Practice Selection Exercise is a data driven decision making exercise to show how health departments can use a strategic practice selection process to assess the availability, affordability, accessibility, and utility of potential interventions. The priority areas selected for this exercise...
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Creating a Culture of Quality Improvement Video
June 8, 2012
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control staff implemented a quality improvement (QI) project to decrease wait-times in Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) clinics. This resulted in more available appointments and improved staff morale. The successes experienced in this project have...
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NPHPS Story From the Field: Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center
May 31, 2012
Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center provides technical assistance and facilitation support for American Indian Tribes in Montana and Wyoming in a variety of public health service areas, including the National Public Health Performance Standards (NPHPS) public health system assessment. The NPHPS...
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NPHPS Story From the Field: Cherokee Nation
May 31, 2012
Cherokee Nation used the combined results from the National Public Health Performance Standards (NPHPS) state public health system assessment and tribal public health assessment to guide its public health activities and initiatives. Based on the assessment results, they found they wanted to improve...
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Making AIM Statements More Robust
April 19, 2012
Quality improvement teams should begin their improvement efforts by creating an AIM statement that defines the problem and the goals. PHF’s Senior Quality Advisor Jack Moran and Maine Department of Health and Human Service’s Performance Improvement Manager Brynn Riley wrote an article detailing the...
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How to Focus Your Training and Professional Development Efforts to Improve the Skills of Your Public Health Organization: White Paper
April 10, 2012
This white paper reports on a series of workshops on focusing limited training and professional development resources to build competence within the public health workforce. Using a quality improvement tool, the prioritization matrix, workshop participants determined the relative importance of the...
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Solve The Real Problem Using Root Cause Analysis
February 9, 2012
The Root Cause Analysis is a QI tool used to define the main cause of a problem and identify the actions necessary to permanently eliminate it. Fixing the main cause of the problem prevents continuously addressing minor symptoms of the problem. This article by Grace Duffy and PHF QI Experts Jack Moran...
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