The Australian Primary Care Collaborative Program Medicare Local National Wave.  A national quality improvement collaborative to increase capacity for primary care improvement in Australia. — YRD
  1. Schedule
  2. Concurrent Stream 2 - Change adoption in Primary Care - international lessons
  3. The Australian Primary Care Collaborative Program Medicare Local National Wave.  A national quality improvement collaborative to increase capacity for primary care improvement in Australia.

The Australian Primary Care Collaborative Program Medicare Local National Wave.  A national quality improvement collaborative to increase capacity for primary care improvement in Australia. (464)

Dale Ford 1 , Andrew Knight 1 , Julie Johnson 2 , Sean Rooney 3
  1. Improvement Foundation Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  2. Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Deputy Director of the Centre for Clinical Governance Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  3. National Programs and Member Services, Australian Medicare Local Alliance, Canberra, ACT, Australia

 The Improvement foundation (IF) has worked with 27 Australian Medicare Locals in National Quality Improvement Collaboratives (QICs), called Medicare Local National Waves. Since 2005, IF has been implementing QICs and has engaged with over 1500 health services, including general practices, Aboriginal Health services and allied health services, in partnership with regional support organisations, including medicare Locals, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations. Medicare Local Waves are designed to enhance the culture and capacity for Quality Improvement in Medicare Locals.

The intervention involved small teams from participating Medicare Locals joining an orientation and three learning workshops, punctuated by action periods. Teams identified improvement topics aligned to local needs. The learnt how to apply the Model for Improvement, measurement concepts and knowledge about human factors in improvement. Teams received expert mentoring and coaching from IF senior staff throughout their involvement. Topics included access and integration of after hours services, integration and coordination of primary health care providers, advanced care planning, and improving data quality in general practice.

Teams designed measures as part of their local project. Monthly data and model for improvement PDSA cycles were collected for the participants. IF also collected a range of measures to gauge implementation of the project, including workshop evaluations and feedback on the value of the activity.

Confidence and competence in quality improvement was measured before and after the workshop series, using a validated QI Knowledge Application Tool (QIKAT)1, before and after the workshop series. Based on the success of this wave, future waves are planned. Based on feedback, workshops have been reviewed and improved. Teams will be asked to select a topic which aligns with organisational strategy before the first workshop, and team continuity will be emphasised.