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Abstract
Introduction Quality improvement (QI) efforts are critical to promoting health equity and mitigating disparities in healthcare outcomes. Equity-focused QI (EF-QI) interventions address the unique needs of equity-deserving groups and the root causes of disparities. This scoping review aims to identify themes from EF-QI interventions that improve the health of equity-deserving groups, to serve as a resource for researchers embarking on QI.
Methods In adherence with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis guidelines, several healthcare and medical databases were systematically searched from inception to December 2022. Primary studies that report results from EF-QI interventions in healthcare were included. Reviewers conducted screening and data extraction using Covidence. Inductive thematic analysis using NVivo identified key barriers to inform future EF-QI interventions.
Results Of 5,330 titles and abstracts screened, 36 articles were eligible for inclusion. They reported on EF-QI interventions across eight medical disciplines: primary care, obstetrics, psychiatry, paediatrics, oncology, cardiology, neurology and respirology. The most common focus was racialised communities (15/36; 42%). Barriers to EF-QI interventions included those at the provider level (training and supervision, time constraints) and institution level (funding and partnerships, infrastructure). The last theme critical to EF-QI interventions is sustainability. Only six (17%) interventions actively involved patient partners.
Discussion EF-QI interventions can be an effective tool for promoting health equity, but face numerous barriers to success. It is unclear whether the demonstrated barriers are intrinsic to the equity focus of the projects or can be generalised to all QI work. Researchers embarking on EF-QI work should engage patients, in addition to hospital and clinic leadership in the design process to secure funding and institutional support, improving sustainability. To the best of our knowledge, no review has synthesised the results of EF-QI interventions in healthcare. Further studies of EF-QI champions are required to better understand the barriers and how to overcome them.
- Healthcare quality improvement
- Outcome Assessment, Health Care
- Quality measurement
Data availability statement
All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information. Not applicable.
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Data availability statement
All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information. Not applicable.
Footnotes
X @JaneJomy, @RSTHuang
Contributors JJ has full access to all study data and takes full responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. JJ is the guarantor of this work. Concept and design: JJ, KXL, NS. Acquisition of data: JJ, KXL, RSH, AC, AM. Analysis or interpretation of data: JJ, KXL. Critical review of the manuscript for important intellectual content: JJ, KXL, NS, TDB. Administrative, technical or material support: JJ, MH. Supervision: NS, TDB.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer-reviewed.
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