Quorum: A Community of Practice Committed to Quality
In a province where so many people are dedicated to improving health care quality in innovative ways how can Health Quality Ontario provide real support for these individuals?
One answer among many – build a platform of online tools to encourage those committed to quality improvement (QI) to network and share best practices.
Welcome to Quorum.
Quorum is an online community recently launched and hosted by Health Quality Ontario dedicated to improving the quality of health care and built to foster a culture of open collaboration.
At Quorum, the goal is to collaborate by learning from each other, sharing our experiences, and supporting innovation from the spark of an idea through to meaningful improvement.
We know that by working together, we can achieve more than any one person or organization could alone. To do this effectively, we need strong communication and collaboration among those working in health care.
With Quorum, those involved in quality improvement can:
- Find credible QI information curated by Health Quality Ontario and generated by partners and community members.
- Give and receive QI support from the community by asking a question on the Q&A page.
- Find out what works and what doesn’t when implementing change ideas by sharing experience on the Lessons Learned page.
- Browse and submit for discussion high quality QI projects including those already developed from IDEAS teams.
- Find like-minded people and communities of practice in a provincial QI directory. Here, anyone can create a group or join a group to tackle common QI challenges together.
- Engage in dialogue with others on QI issues by commenting, up-voting, and sharing content.
By joining Quorum, you are joining the large community of practice of people who are committed and working to understand quality and improve the quality of care provided in this province.
Quorum has been two years in the making and the final product is a deliberate reflection of user needs gathered over that period.
As with all communities, the success of Quorum will depend on the willingness of community members to participate and engage with others. Quorum was built with the ongoing participation and input from the quality care community and will continue to evolve to meet the needs of this community. It was also built to augment the other ways we need to connect and support teams working on QI in the province.
As Renée Desjardins explains in a post on Quorum, even the name for the site came from asking those in attendance at the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Forum and Health Quality Transformation 2016 conferences last fall to vote for what name would fit best.
Since Quorum went live last month it has marked a number of firsts, such as the first post and first lesson learned from a community member – each a necessary stepping stone to building a vibrant community and initiating conversations about quality care. With the addition of every new community member and post, Quorum grows in value.
Together, we can work towards our shared goal of a health care system that is safe, effective, patient-centred, efficient, timely, and equitable.