Monday 20 June 2022 | 11:00-12:30

Format: Workshop
Stream: Building Capability and Leadership

Healthcare staff, improvement professionals, patients and their families and caregivers, in all healthcare settings, design and lead efforts to improve the quality of care. A common and impactful way of sharing those quality improvement (QI) efforts is by publication in the peer-reviewed literature. Through lecture and small and large group discussion, this session will help participants to: 1) identify opportunities to publish QI work to disseminate their experiences and new knowledge with others; 2) identify common pitfalls in QI project report submissions to peer-reviewed journals; and 3) describe strategies that can be employed during both the project stage and the writing stage to increase the chances of publication.

During this workshop we will briefly discuss why it is important to publish QI work and where it can be published, while providing new perspectives on authorship for QI reports. We will also share resources and best practices regarding research ethics and protection of human subjects for QI. In small groups, workshop participants will then review QI report abstracts as if they were peer-reviewers or journal editors. During a large-group discussion, we will briefly review the SQUIRE2.0 guidelines, but spend most of the time-sharing tips for publishing QI based on our experiences as Co-Editors-in-Chief of the journal BMJ Quality and Safety. Our tips for publishing QI will also draw on the many decades of combined experience of two additional senior editors at BMJ Quality and Safety. Participants will take away practical advice for preparing and publishing QI reports, including tips from highly experienced QI practitioners, writers, and editors. This workshop will be most useful to individuals with relatively little experience publishing QI work, although more experience individuals may find parts of the workshop useful.

After this session, participants will be able to:

• Identify peer-reviewed publications in which to publish QI reports


• Describe and implement strategies during the conduct of QI projects that will increase the chances of being able to publish the work


• Write improvement reports that avoid the most common pitfalls

Eric Thomas, University of Texas Health Science Center, BMJ Quality and Safety; USA

Perla Marang-van de Mheen, Leiden University Medical Center, BMJ Quality & Safety; The Netherlands