Primary Health Care And Continuous Quality Improvement

For most people, the main point of access to the health system is through primary health care (PHC). The fundamental premise of primary health care is that all people, everywhere, have the right to receive the appropriate care in their community. Primary health care attends to the majority of a person’s health needs throughout their lifetime, including physical, mental and social wellbeing. PHC is people-centred rather than disease-centred. It is a whole-of-society approach that includes health promotion, disease prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care.

Primary health care and continuous quality improvement: An evidence-based guide provides an accessible contemporary guide on implementing continuous quality improvement (CQI) in PHC settings. The authors draw together two decades of practical experience and established leadership in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health in Australia to provide guidance for health services and their staff, policymakers, researchers, funders and support organisations in an international context.

Primary health care and continuous quality improvement provides an in-depth understanding of how CQI can be used to strengthen health systems by:

- identifying core concepts underpinning CQI in PHC and how CQI can improve health care quality, health equity and population health;
- explaining how CQI data is used in a comprehensive approach to PHC to measure quality, and how data is generated and used for improving care;
- describing CQI tools and techniques used by PHC teams;
- offering guidance in interpreting data and addressing variation in care quality;
- providing case studies in maternal health, children’s health, mental health and other areas, to describe the application of CQI to improve clinical care;
- guiding practitioners on how to collaborate and build data systems for CQI, and strengthen links between communities and PHC services.

Continuous quality improvement is everybody’s business, and Primary health care and continuous quality improvement explains the strategic use of CQI at different levels of the health system and across sectors to achieve and sustain large-scale health improvement.

Alison Laycock is a research fellow at the University Centre for Rural Health, University of Sydney. Alison has worked collaboratively with community, research and health service partners to develop quality improvement tools and training resources, and guides for health promotion practice and health research in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care settings.

Lynette O'Donoghue is a proud Yankunytjatjara and Warumungu-Warlpiri woman, and a research fellow at the University Centre for Rural Health, University of Sydney. She has contributed significantly to Indigenous leadership of the NHMRC-funded Centre for Research Excellence in Strengthening Systems for Indigenous Health Care Equity, advocating meaningful engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and services in the design, implementation and translation of research activities.

Ross Bailie is professor of rural health with the University of Sydney School of Public Health and the University Centre for Rural Health, based in Lismore, Northern NSW. Ross's research has been centred on increasing availability of information for policy and service planning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and for rural and remote communities.