Quality Improvement
Share QI
Share what works. Share what you've learnt.
Improvement should not stop when a project ends. Sharing the changes you tested, the results you observed and the lessons you learnt can help other acute medical teams improve care.
Whether you're preparing a local presentation, a conference poster, a publication or a project for the SAM Improvement Exchange, we'll help you tell your improvement story clearly and responsibly.
Choose how to share your work
A team meeting, a conference poster and a published report serve different audiences. Choose the format that helps others understand your improvement, its results and what they could learn.
Present to colleagues
Share practical learning through departmental meetings, governance sessions, teaching, improvement collaboratives or regional networks.
Focus on
- Why the problem matters to patients and staff.
- The changes tested and what the measures showed.
- What colleagues could adopt or adapt.
- Actions needed to sustain improvement.
Submit a poster or abstract
Conferences offer opportunities to share improvement with the wider acute medicine community, receive feedback and develop new connections.
Focus on
- A clear aim, setting and improvement method.
- Actual results, preferably with time-ordered data.
- What was learnt, including limitations.
- Meeting the current event's submission rules.
Write for publication
A full improvement report can explain the intervention, context, evaluation and learning in enough depth for others to assess and adapt the work.
Focus on
- Why the changes were expected to work.
- Context, methods, measures and results.
- Unintended effects, limitations and sustainability.
- The journal's reporting and submission requirements.
Share the learning, not only the successes
A change that did not achieve its intended outcome can still offer valuable learning. Explain what you predicted, what happened and why your team changed direction.
Avoid turning every QI project into a success story. Other teams need to understand uncertainty, resource requirements and the challenges of implementation.
Whichever format you choose, a clear account of your project begins with the same fundamentals.
Learn how to report your improvement →Tell the full improvement story
Strong reporting makes an improvement project understandable, credible and useful to others. Explain what happened, how you studied the change and what another team could learn from your work.
The problem and context
Describe the clinical setting, the people affected, existing performance and why improvement was needed.
The improvement aim
Explain what the team wanted to improve, the intended population, measures and timeframe.
The changes tested
Describe the interventions, how they were developed, the tests undertaken and how learning shaped subsequent changes.
Measurement and results
Present actual results with clear definitions and denominators. Show observations over time where appropriate and include balancing measures.
What the results mean
Explain the learning, limitations, contextual influences and possible unintended effects. Avoid claiming causation beyond the evidence.
Sustainability and learning
Describe what has continued, what still needs testing and what another acute medical team would need to adapt.
SAM resources for reporting improvement
Use these downloadable materials to organise your reporting and prepare a clear account of your project.
SQUIRE 2.0 Presentation Template
A starting structure for presenting the context, methods, interventions, findings and learning from your quality improvement project.
Open presentation template ↗SQUIRE 2.0 Reporting Guide
Guidance to help structure an improvement report, explain the work transparently and identify information readers need to interpret the findings.
Open reporting guide ↗For authoritative reporting guidance, see SQUIRE 2.0 on the EQUATOR Network ↗ . Always check the requirements of the journal, conference or organisation receiving your work.
Before you share your project
Use this checklist to review whether you have enough information to communicate your project clearly. It is a prompt for preparation, not a formal SAM approval or confidentiality assessment.
0 of 7 items consideredThis checklist stays in your browser while the page is open. It does not save, submit or certify your project.
Share responsibly
A project approved for local QI activity is not automatically approved for public dissemination. Check organisational arrangements for publication, attribution, information governance and any necessary patient consent.
Use aggregated or appropriately anonymised data where possible. Consider whether combinations of information could identify individuals, particularly in unusual cases or small populations.
Obtain appropriate permission for patient images, identifiable narratives and material created by other people. Follow the particular conference or publisher's policies.
Share through the SAM Improvement Exchange
What works in one acute medical unit could help another team tackle a similar problem. The SAM Improvement Exchange brings together improvement initiatives and practical learning from across acute medicine.
Explore work in SDEC, AMU flow, education and service development. Use these experiences as a starting point for local discussion and adaptation, rather than assuming that one solution will work unchanged everywhere.
Help another team learn from yours
The most useful project reports explain enough about the original setting for others to judge what might be transferable.
Describe the intervention, how it was developed and how the team tested it.
Share the actual results, unintended effects and limitations.
Explain the staff time, skills, resources, approvals and practical support required.
Include challenges, lessons learnt and what another team should consider before adapting the approach.
Keep improving. Keep learning together.
Share QI supports the communication of improvement work. The Improvement Exchange is SAM's separate destination for discovering projects and connecting with shared learning.