What are Quality Improvement Projects?
A quality improvement (QI) project seeks to improve patient care and outcomes by comparing a process of care against explicit criteria established at the beginning of the project, measuring the initial findings, implementing changes where indicated, and monitoring the results to confirm improvement in healthcare delivery. Changes may be implemented at an individual, team, or service level.
QI projects may be performed in small community clinics or large tertiary centres and may involve a small local team, multiple levels of management, or several disciplines. Their common aim is to ensure that best practices are followed and that the highest quality of patient care is delivered. Undertaking a QI project can also provide participants with the knowledge and skills needed to maintain high-quality care throughout their careers. (Adapted from Burgess.)
Quality Improvement and Competence by Design
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada has introduced Competence by Design (CBD) into resident education in Canada. Learn more about Competence by Design.
CBD aims to ensure that residents attain the level of competency in their chosen discipline expected by society and the communities they serve. The pathway to competence in radiology includes key competencies, enabling competencies, and milestones that apply to undertaking a QI project. These competencies and milestones span the CanMEDS roles and can be linked to observable actions or behaviours by the trainee.
Appendix 1 provides an overview of the relevant competencies and milestones and how they relate to observable behaviours.
Download Appendix 1: CBD and Quality Improvement Projects.
Preparing a QI Abstract
QI abstracts and presentations describe quality improvement projects that have taken place within an institution.
CAR has adopted the SQUIRE guidelines for reporting quality improvement in medicine, updated as SQUIRE 2.0. These guidelines provide an overview of the information to consider when planning a project and preparing a submission. Review the SQUIRE 2.0 guidelines.
Consider and include all stakeholders when planning a QI project. A multidisciplinary approach is preferable for successful outcomes and is viewed favourably when abstracts and presentations are judged. For example, a project to improve post-intervention infection rates might involve radiologists, radiology trainees, nurses, technologists, managers, and referring clinicians.
Guidance & Requirements for Abstract Submissions
The submission must contain every section listed below. Abstracts that are missing a required section will not be reviewed.
Authors
- Provide the name and position of each author (for example, medical student, technologist, radiologist, or clerical staff).
Title of submission
- Consider topics such as the quality, safety, effectiveness, patient-centredness, timeliness, cost, efficiency, and equity of medical imaging and image-guided intervention services.
Presenting author’s level of training
- Indicate whether the presenting author is a radiologist, fellow, resident, medical student, or other medical professional.
Institutional affiliation
Figure, image or table
- A supporting figure, table or other visual representation of the project is mandatory for all submissions.
- Avoid using institutional logos or other images with identifying details.
Background and Objective
- Describe the nature and significance of the local problem.
- State the purpose in one or two sentences. This would typically begin with “The purpose of this initiative was…”.
Methods
- Describe the measures or data selected to study the outcomes of the intervention, including the rationale for choosing them and their operational definitions, validity, and reliability.
- Describe the intervention, process, or collaboration in enough detail that others could reproduce it.
- Where applicable, describe the standard of practice being examined and the target being set. The standard is an explicit statement describing the expected standard of care and may be based on research, international or national guidelines, or consensus local practice. The target is an explicit statement describing how often the standard should be achieved to represent good practice.
- Describe the specific roles of the team members involved in the intervention, process, or collaboration.
Results and Discussion
- Where applicable, report the pre- and post-intervention data.
- Consider qualitative and/or quantitative methods to generate results, draw inferences from the data, and understand variation, including variation over the study period. QI studies may not require complex statistical analysis.
Conclusion
- Address the usefulness and sustainability of the work.
- Consider its potential for spread to other contexts.
- Describe the implications for practice and further study in the field.
- Identify suggested next steps.
Resources
- Royal College of Radiologists Audit & Quality Improvement guides
References
1. Burgess R, ed. New Principles of Best Practice in Clinical Audit. 2nd ed. Radcliffe Publishing; 2011.
2. Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Competence by Design. Accessed August 28, 2026. https://www.royalcollege.ca/en/standards-and-accreditation/competence-by-design
3. Dhillon S. Integration of CanMEDS Roles and Clinical Audit. Presented at: Canadian Conference on Medical Education; April 16-19, 2016; Montreal, QC.
4. SQUIRE. SQUIRE 2.0. Accessed August 28, 2026. https://www.squire-statement.org/