A focus on the quality of health care is becoming increasingly relevant to all health care providers and administrators, including those in the corrections setting. The article provides practical steps that can be taken to improve quality and offers a synopsis of commonly used quality improvement tools. A number of quality improvement strategies derived from the medical field are mentioned briefly. Quality management requires the participation of everyone in the organization and is greatly facilitated by working in teams. Quality improvement requires organizational and individual change. The effective management of both of these issues is crucial for success and is briefly discussed. The article concludes with discussion of potential barriers to quality improvement attempts.
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