New resources for quality improvement policy-makers and implementers
The World Health Organization and UNICEF released today a module and a mapping of tools to guide policy makers and programme implementers working in Quality Improvement in Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, to support making comprehensive and meaningful stakeholder and community engagement an integral part of quality improvement (QI) initiatives.
This module compliments the implementation guide developed by the Network for Improving Quality of care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (Quality of Care Network).
Stakeholder and community engagement is integral to ensuring that the care of women and newborns is of high quality and according to their needs and preferences. It promotes collaboration and gives service users and community members an opportunity to actively participate in the care they receive and to reflect on how to ensure access for all.
The Quality of Care Network considers stakeholder and community engagement as one of the ‘core systems’ required for quality improvement and has included it in the implementation guide for quality improvement.
The module covers four key topics including: rationale for engagement; building and strengthening partnerships; strategies for information, communication and advocacy; and monitoring, evaluation and learning.
The mapping of tools identified 70 tools to further support implementation of stakeholder and community engagement across the seven steps of the Quality of Care Network’s Implementation Framework*.
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* 1) establish leadership group, 2) situation analysis, 3) adapt standards of care, 4) identify QI interventions, 5) implementation of QI interventions, 6) continuous measurement of quality outcomes and 7) refinement of strategies.
