At the ACQUIRE QI Leadership Forum in Kenya, The Aurum Institute’s Regional Director, Ms Lauren De Kock, led key discussions on how African countries can integrate quality improvement (QI) into their healthcare systems to address everyday challenges effectively.
The QI Leadership Forum serves as a vital platform for discussing and highlighting quality improvement in healthcare across Africa. It brings together multidisciplinary teams from various countries, showcasing how they are using QI to drive significant and sustainable changes.
The forum's first day examined the state of healthcare quality and safety on a global scale, highlighting trends, gaps, and issues relevant to QI in Africa. As a keynote speaker, Lauren De Kock presented on the “Status of Quality and Safety Globally: What Should Africa Do?” She underscored that African healthcare systems often evolve out of necessity and crises, shaped by funder demands and historical practices. De Kock highlighted that data should be more than just a reporting tool; it must be leveraged for informed decision-making and service improvements. Referencing W. Edwards Deming, she asserted, “In God we trust. All others must bring data,” to emphasise the need for data-driven improvements across all levels of healthcare.
The second day focused on building leadership communication skills to drive QI efforts. De Kock’s presentation, “Engaging Leadership for QI: Training Across Systems,” emphasised clear, straightforward communication to avoid jargon and overload. She concluded with a call to action: “We need to work with managers to embed sustainability into the fabric of daily work,” highlighting Aurum’s commitment to lasting quality care through its OP Nerve Centre approach.
The ACQUIRE QI Leadership Forum was a significant step towards advancing healthcare quality in Africa. Through Aurum's insights, led by Ms Lauren De Kock, the event reinforced the importance of data-driven decision-making, effective communication, and embedding sustainability in healthcare practices.
Managers often focus on individuals as the source of the problem instead of focusing on the system as the problem. - Ms Lauren De Kock#ACQUIREhealth pic.twitter.com/fktFwWSk6x
— ACQUIRE Frontline Healthcare (@ACQUIREhealth) July 19, 2024
