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Are you looking for authoritative overviews of the evidence on approaches to improve quality and safety in healthcare?

Our new open-access series is a key resource in bringing together critical evidence-based overviews of a diverse range of healthcare improvement approaches.

We have worked with over 60 leading academic and clinical experts to develop our series, Elements of Improving Quality and Safety in HealthcareThe series is being published by Cambridge University Press in curated collections over the next 18 months.

Aimed at researchers, people involved in training on healthcare improvement, and those interested in understanding current debates, it offers comprehensive and authoritative overviews of a wide range of improvement approaches. Exploring the thinking behind them, examining evidence for each approach, and identifying gaps and challenges, it will stimulate fresh thinking and help to move forward evidence-based improvement work.

The series has been jointly edited by our Director, Professor Mary Dixon-Woods, and our Director of Research, Professor Graham Martin. Mary and Graham have also written the Element on collaboration-based approaches.

What can you expect from the series?

  • Comprehensive – covering a wide range of approaches, including models, techniques, major tools and methods, organising structures and strategies.
  • Evidence-based – sets out the evidence for how each approach has been used and to what effect, but without advocating for the approach or acting as a how-to guide.
  • Scholarly – the Elements series has been written by over 60 academic and clinical experts in healthcare improvement from over 40 organisations in the UK, Canada, France, Australia, and the USA.
  • Robust – all Elements have been through an editorial and peer-review process to ensure the content is accurate, accessible, and engaging.
  • Open access – the content is freely available online (under a CC-BY-NC-ND licence).

First Elements in the series

The Positive Deviance Approach

Ruth Baxter and Rebecca Lawton

Delves into the largely untapped potential of positive deviance – identifying those who demonstrate exceptional performance and investigating how they achieve this.

Co-Producing and Co-Designing

Glenn Robert, Louise Locock, Oli Williams, Jocelyn Cornwell, Sara Donetto, and Joanna Goodrich

Examines the origins and development of co-production and co-design and their application in healthcare, including opportunities and challenges.

Collaboration-Based Approaches

Graham Martin and Mary Dixon-Woods

Explores the evidence for collaboration-based approaches to improving healthcare, with a focus on quality improvement collaboratives and communities of practice.

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