One step on the QI journey: team perspectives on surveys for improvement
Background Surveys are widely used in healthcare to gather knowledge and information about services provided. There is a recognised gap between survey findings and their impact on practice, particularly for standardised surveys conducted at the national or organisational level. Findings are more lik...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2025-05-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open Quality |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/14/2/e003230.full |
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| author | Julie E Reed Julie K Johnson Marjorie M Godfrey Cassandra B Iroz |
| author_facet | Julie E Reed Julie K Johnson Marjorie M Godfrey Cassandra B Iroz |
| author_sort | Julie E Reed |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background Surveys are widely used in healthcare to gather knowledge and information about services provided. There is a recognised gap between survey findings and their impact on practice, particularly for standardised surveys conducted at the national or organisational level. Findings are more likely to be acted on where there is a culture and infrastructure supportive of quality improvement (QI), but little is known about the experiences of local QI teams designing and using surveys in practice.Objective To understand the experiences of QI teams designing and using surveys within a national QI collaborative, including perceived value and challenges.Methods Using an interactive research approach, 14 semistructured interviews were conducted with members of the Cystic Fibrosis Lung Transplant Transition Learning and Leadership Collaborative. Data were analysed through multiple rounds of coding and inductive thematic analysis.Results Collaborative participants viewed surveys positively as an improvement tool. The design and use of surveys was a team-based effort, embedded within the structure of the collaborative. Surveys illuminated local, microsystem and mesosystem data and provided patient and staff insights. As one step in the QI journey, surveys helped shape the direction of local QI work, resulting in positive changes in areas such as working relationships, patient interactions, staff education and work processes.Challenges experienced included: response rates and survey design, inability to act on findings, issues of sensitivity and anonymity, expertise to design surveys, time requirements, and survey fatigue.Conclusions Surveys played a crucial role in driving QI efforts, leading to impactful changes in practice. Used within a supportive collaborative context, surveys became an essential tool for ongoing learning and improvement, highlighting the distinct needs of surveys used in QI compared with research. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c93c41a9d60b4e8a9f64b841235a444b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2399-6641 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open Quality |
| spelling | doaj-art-c93c41a9d60b4e8a9f64b841235a444b2025-08-20T03:53:56ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open Quality2399-66412025-05-0114210.1136/bmjoq-2024-003230One step on the QI journey: team perspectives on surveys for improvementJulie E Reed0Julie K Johnson1Marjorie M Godfrey2Cassandra B Iroz3Julie Reed Consultancy Ltd, London, UKDepartment of Surgery, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USAThe Microsystem Academy, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USACenter for Healthcare Studies, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USABackground Surveys are widely used in healthcare to gather knowledge and information about services provided. There is a recognised gap between survey findings and their impact on practice, particularly for standardised surveys conducted at the national or organisational level. Findings are more likely to be acted on where there is a culture and infrastructure supportive of quality improvement (QI), but little is known about the experiences of local QI teams designing and using surveys in practice.Objective To understand the experiences of QI teams designing and using surveys within a national QI collaborative, including perceived value and challenges.Methods Using an interactive research approach, 14 semistructured interviews were conducted with members of the Cystic Fibrosis Lung Transplant Transition Learning and Leadership Collaborative. Data were analysed through multiple rounds of coding and inductive thematic analysis.Results Collaborative participants viewed surveys positively as an improvement tool. The design and use of surveys was a team-based effort, embedded within the structure of the collaborative. Surveys illuminated local, microsystem and mesosystem data and provided patient and staff insights. As one step in the QI journey, surveys helped shape the direction of local QI work, resulting in positive changes in areas such as working relationships, patient interactions, staff education and work processes.Challenges experienced included: response rates and survey design, inability to act on findings, issues of sensitivity and anonymity, expertise to design surveys, time requirements, and survey fatigue.Conclusions Surveys played a crucial role in driving QI efforts, leading to impactful changes in practice. Used within a supportive collaborative context, surveys became an essential tool for ongoing learning and improvement, highlighting the distinct needs of surveys used in QI compared with research.https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/14/2/e003230.full |
| spellingShingle | Julie E Reed Julie K Johnson Marjorie M Godfrey Cassandra B Iroz One step on the QI journey: team perspectives on surveys for improvement BMJ Open Quality |
| title | One step on the QI journey: team perspectives on surveys for improvement |
| title_full | One step on the QI journey: team perspectives on surveys for improvement |
| title_fullStr | One step on the QI journey: team perspectives on surveys for improvement |
| title_full_unstemmed | One step on the QI journey: team perspectives on surveys for improvement |
| title_short | One step on the QI journey: team perspectives on surveys for improvement |
| title_sort | one step on the qi journey team perspectives on surveys for improvement |
| url | https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/14/2/e003230.full |
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