What is the difference between quality improvement (QI) and evaluation?
Quality improvement (QI) generally describes the ongoing monitoring, evaluation, and improvement processes aimed at improving performance. It is a patient/client-driven philosophy and process that focuses on preventing problems and maximizing quality of care. Evaluation comprises systemic studies conducted periodically or on an ad hoc basis to assess how well a program or system of care is working. Types of evaluation include process or implementation evaluation, outcome evaluation, impact evaluation and cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness evaluation.
