Using data for improvement

### What you need to know We all need a way to understand the quality of care we are providing, or receiving, and how our service is performing. We use a range of data in order to fulfil this need, both quantitative and qualitative. Data are defined as “information, especially facts and numbers, collected to be examined and considered and used to help decision-making.”1 Data are used to make judgements, to answer questions, and to monitor and support improvement in healthcare (box 1). The same data can be used in different ways, depending on what we want to know or learn. Box 1 ### Defining quality improvement2 Quality improvement aims to make a difference to patients by improving safety, effectiveness, and experience of care by: 1. Using understanding of our complex healthcare environment 2. Applying a systematic approach 3. Designing, testing, and implementing changes using real-time measurement for improvementRETURN TO TEXT Within healthcare, we use a range of data at different levels of the system: This article outlines the data we need to understand the quality of care we are providing, what we need to capture to see if care is improving, how to interpret the data, and some tips for doing this more effectively. ### Sources and selection criteria This article is based on my experience of using data for improvement at East …