Nine local health departments have signed up to participate in Wave 6 of the Public Health QI 101 training program, which kicked off in February. We are very excited to start the next chapter in their QI journeys with this outstanding group of local health departments.

The Center for Public Health Quality hosted a celebration event on November 6, 2012 to showcase some of the great QI progress and successes taking place at the Division of Public Health (DPH). The event featured poster displays and presentations by DPH QI 101 Wave A participants.

Five DPH teams will participate in Wave B of the DPH QI 101 program that kicked off in November 2012. We are very excited to start new QI journeys with this outstanding group of DPH staff.

Wilson County Health Department participated in Wave 5 of the PH QI 101 program from May through November 2012.  Nicknaming themselves the “QI Divas”, their QI team’s enthusiasm for QI is contagious when they are discussing their QI project and their experience in the PH QI 101 program.  When asked what words or phrases come to mind to describe their experience, the team says that it was educating, engaging, lots of trials and testing, eye-opening and fatiguing but fun.  They were able to learn numerous QI tools and methods that some members had never encountered within a team environment that got everyone involved and excited about the process.  It was eye-opening since they were able to think of new ways of making improvements no one had tested before and they admitted that it took a great deal of focus and determination, but as a team they were able to make it fun and enjoyed the process immensely. 

The Mecklenburg County Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) team has been busy spreading the “QI bug” to others throughout their agency.  Working together with the CPI team, the Immunization Department at Mecklenburg Health Department was awarded the Bronze Touchstone Award presented by the Carolina Healthcare Systems for their QI work in improving their patient satisfaction scores.