About the Guide > Who Should Use

The Guide applies to a variety of organizations, including managed care organizations (MCO), public health organizations, community clinics, disease management (DM) organizations, hospitals and other organizations that arrange for or deliver health care services. The Resource Library offers a collection of downloadable ready-to-use tools that have been used successfully in other health care settings, along with several comprehensive reference documents.

The QI Team

The Guide refers to those who are carrying out these activities as the "QI team." QI Teams generally include representatives with different knowledge, skills, experiences, and perspectives. They are often from different departments or divisions within an organization and even from the community or external stakeholders that are affected by the problems targeted or the changes proposed. QI Teams are especially helpful when the process or system in question is complex or cross-functional, when no one person in the organization knows all the dimensions of an issue or when the process involves more than one discipline or area of operation, as is often the case. The collective contributions of the various individuals that make up the QI team can be a source of cooperation and creativity and may be valuable when seeking leadership and organization-wide support.11. Schwartz, Landis, Rowe, A Team Approach to Quality Improvement. Family Practice Management. April, 1999, Vol 6, No. 4, Pages 25-30. Available at: http://www.aafp.org/fpm/990400fm/25.html. Accessed October 8, 2007.