SOG President's Message
Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Willing is not enough; we must do.
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Appreciate how rare and full of potential your situation is in this world, then take joy in it, and use it to your best advantage.
– Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama
As health-care leaders, we are all very much involved in the pursuit of quality. Whether it is within a board, a single organization, or across a broad health-care system, we strive to reinforce and support quality endeavours that improve the delivery of care for people.
Striving for quality
Much has been written on the topic of quality and the complexity of getting it right. Most IHPME alumni and students could easily recite the fundamental elements of quality: safe, effective, patient-centred, timely, efficient, and equitable. Most of our alumni are under significant pressure to improve the culture of quality in health care and to apply all the quality strategies and tools available to them. We must continually design and redesign in order to maintain and improve our quality gains. Given the importance of quality to our professional lives, it isn't surprising that our Winter 2013 issue of IHPME Connection focusses on this theme.
While the Internet is literally strewn with thousands of quotations about quality, the one above from Goethe reminds us that we must apply and act in order to succeed at quality improvement. The Dalai Lama also reminds us that every leader, no matter where he or she is in the system, has the potential to make a difference.
In this issue
In this issue, you will find a lot of examples of these two tenets in vibrant action.
IHPME Director Adalsteinn (Steini) Brown introduces us to some of the new quality-infused strategic planning underway at the Institute. (And you will also read about the official celebratory event, held in January at Hart House, at which we officially welcomed Steini as our new leader.)
On the alumni news front, we celebrate the recent naming of one of our own as a Top 100 Woman. And we take an inside look at the new Quality Improvement and Patient Safety concentration through the eyes and experiences of three current students who share their thoughts on quality in relation to their varied careers and their academic projects. And Meg Sheehan points us to another great collection of articles that will help us deepen our knowledge of care quality in relation to clinician engagement and other concerns.
Finally, update your calendars with all our upcoming events: Research Day (1 May), Education Day (9 May), and the ongoing Health Services Research Seminars. I am particularly looking forward to Education Day: the theme is transforming innovation into quality solutions to address the complex challenges in health care. We know that the theme and the TED Talk format will be stimulating and meaningful to all participants.
With warm personal regards,
Sue VanderBent
SOG President |
