|
QUERI researchers collaborate with VA policy and practice leaders, clinicians, and operations staff to implement appropriate evidence-based practices into routine clinical care. They work within distinct disease- or condition-specific QUERI Centers and utilize a standard six-step process:
|
|
1) Identify high-risk/high-volume diseases or problems.
|
|
2) Identify best practices.
|
|
3) Define existing practice patterns and outcomes across the VA and current variation from best practices.
|
|
4) Identify and implement interventions to promote best practices.
|
|
5) Document that best practices improve outcomes.
|
|
6) Document that outcomes are associated with improved health-related quality of life.
|
|
Within Step 4, QUERI implementation efforts generally follow a sequence of four phases to enable the refinement and spread of effective and sustainable implementation programs across multiple VA medical centers and clinics. The phases include:
|
|
1) Single site pilot,
|
|
2) Small scale, multi-site implementation trial,
|
|
3) Large scale, multi-region implementation trial, and
|
|
4) System-wide rollout.
|
|
Researchers employ additional QUERI frameworks and tools, as highlighted in this Series, to enhance achievement of each project's quality improvement and implementation science goals.
|
