Journal for healthcare quality : official publication of the National Association for Healthcare Quality
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It is often difficult to maintain quality improvement change. Many behavioral strategies have been used to improve uptake of new practices and knowledge. One effective way of changing medication prescribing is audit and feedback with specific educational feedback. ⋯ There was continued improvement in performance, assessed by increases in the percentage of patients with measured pain and sedation scores and in those with documented pain management plans at discharge, compared with earlier APOP project audits. Using this example of the APOP toolkit and "snapshot" audits, we have now demonstrated that hospitals nationwide are able to undertake quality improvement activities voluntarily to maintain optimal performance. Encouragement, guidance, and availability of ready-made tools developed by a national team facilitate opportunities for ongoing quality improvements.