Voluntary initiatives by clinicians

Voluntary efforts by clinicians to improve care are important, but in areas such as data registers, and clinical practice guideline development and implementation, the methods and management systems needed to support high quality efforts now require a more organised approach. This chapter focuses on three areas. First, individual clinicians and professional societies—particularly those concerned with more technical aspects of care delivery such as renal medicine and intensive care—have developed a variety of data registers to capture information on processes and outcomes of care and provide feedback to participating clinicians. Multiple health professional and specialty organisations have initiated the production of clinical practice guidelines in Australia and highlighted the need to promote implementation of guideline recommendations and evidence-based practice. Finally, the chapter discusses the enthusiastic adoption of collaborative quality improvement initiatives within parts of the health sector over the last ten years.