Promoting a culture of quality improvement within a practice means that every staff member is involved in the delivery and improvement of care, and most importantly feels valued in their role. Primary care teams vary considerably, however, tapping into each member’s skillset and interests creates a high functioning team that contributes to better patient care.
 

 

Dr Carloyn Ee discusses the importance of a team approach in cancer control

 

 

Working as a team, discuss and identify:

• Who is responsible for each task?
• When they will complete the task?
• What training and resources will they need to complete the task?
• Who will provide the necessary training/resources (most of the necessary resources are in the toolkit but may require printing, laminating, etc.), and when?
• What practice policies/standing orders or protocols need to be developed to support the workflow (including incorporation of workflow tasks into practice job descriptions and on-boarding processes)?
• How and when will your team review the implementation of the workflow in order to identify any necessary changes (and to celebrate the positive changes achieved)?
   

 

Effective prevention requires collaboration on multiple levels

• The patient and GP
• The patient and practice team 
• The GP and practice team 
• The GP and allied health care professionals
• The practice team and primary health networks and/or the broader community and health system.

 

Team roles and responsibilities in quality improvement

Practice Manager/Senior Administrator: This person will be the toolkit lead and oversee the system improvement work. 

General Practitioner: The GP’s role is to provide clinical advice and to act as a clinical champion for cancer screening quality improvement. 

Primary Care Nurse: Nurses play an important role in data cleaning and supporting improvements in patient education and counselling. 

Member of the Reception Team: The reception team play an important role in reminder systems and cancer screening awareness raising. 

Aboriginal Health Workers: Aboriginal Health Workers play an important role in engaging with Aboriginal patients, they assist in providing culturally safe care through health assessments and supporting systems within the practice. Please see Working with Aboriginal communities for further information.