Dominic Montagu, DrPH
My research is focused on measurement and on quality. Most of my work is on maternal health, family planning, and abortion services in low- and middle-income countries.
In India and Kenya my colleagues and I are working to first develop a measure for person-centered quality, and then to implement rapid quality improvement cycles in multiple hospitals, working with the hospital managers, clinicians, staff, and patients to identify quality shortcomings, causes, and to brainstorm and implement solutions.
We will measure the effectiveness of those locally-developed solutions using the common quality metric we have already created. The rapid quality-improvement initiatives that work in one facility, that lead to a significant improvement on our quality scale, will then be prioritized for testing out in the subsequent rapid quality-improvement cycle in the other facilities.
Working this way will allow us to be fast, innovative, build on local ideas and knowledge, and also assess the replicability and validity of specific interventions. We will work in 6 hospitals in Uttar Pradesh, India, and in 3 hospitals in Nairobi, Kenya.
Good metrics, and a commitment to improve based on what they show, is at the core of effective, responsive, patient-centered healthcare. Responding to what matters to real patients, rather than just to scientists, providers, or managers, is the key to making quality improvements that both improve outcomes, and improve timely access, use, and follow-through on care.