Quality improvement reports

We are keen to publish interesting and important descriptive reports on how people try to change and improve health services. Such reports do not contain original science and do not fit easily into the standard IMRaD format for research papers. The journal Quality in Health Care (now called Quality and safety in Health Care) has developed a new style for quality improvement reports, which the BMJ has adopted (see Moss F, Thompson R. A new structure for quality improvement reports. Quality in Health Care 1999;8:76).

Please see also Quality improvement reports: a new kind of article

The reports are structured like this:

• Brief description of context: relevant details of staff and function of department, team, unit, patient group
• Outline of problem: what were you trying to accomplish?
• Key measures for improvement: what would constitute improvement in the view of patients?
• Process of gathering information: methods used to assess problems
• Analysis and interpretation: how did this information help your understanding of the problem?
• Strategy for change: what actual changes were made, how were they implemented, and who was involved in the change process?
• Effects of change: did this lead to improvement for patients – how did you know?
• Next steps: what have you learnt/achieved and how will you take this forward?

Like all articles for the LJPC’s education and debate section, quality improvement reports should not exceed 2000-2500 words and 24 references. They should have structured abstracts with these headings – problem, design, setting, key measures for improvement, strategies for change, effects of change, lessons learnt.