Dental Quality Alliance unveils online course to spur improvement

May 12, 2017 Improvement relies on measurement, and there is a new way to find out where to start.

The Dental Quality Alliance has launched an online course — the first of its kind — that will provide dental professionals tools to use feedback to evaluate, monitor and improve their quality of services, both clinical and operational, in their practices.

The free course, called "How to Improve with Model for Improvement," was announced at the 2017 DQA Conference held May 12-13 at ADA Headquarters and was created in partnership with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

Dr. Schweinebraten

"You'll learn how to use data to identify key areas of improvement, then drive toward meaningful change for you and your patients" said Dr. Marie Schweinebraten, Dental Quality Alliance chair. "As you'll learn, the basic steps for any improvement project are the same: Set an aim, select measures, develop ideas for changes and test changes."

The estimated time of the course is 90 minutes and continuing education credits are available upon completion.

To access the course, go to ihi.org/dqa.

For more information, visit ADA.org/dqa or ihi.org/dqa or email dqa@ADA.org.

The DQA, established by the ADA in 2008, through a request from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is comprised of multiple stakeholders from across the oral health community who are committed to the development of consensus-based quality measures.