Page 13 - THE DECADES-LONG QA ODYSSEY Celebrating the 10th National QA Convention 2019

PREFACE

HEAD
CENTRE FOR HEALTHCARE QUALITY RESEARCH

INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH SYSTEMS RESEARCH (IHSR) The Decades-long QA Odyssey: Reminiscing the Past, Capturing the Present, Crafting the Future

Dr. Samsiah Awang The QA Convention is a long-awaited occasion by everyone who is passionate about Quality in Malaysia and is synonymous with
the National QA Secretariat. An important platform for the exchange of ideas, it is a biennial event which is intended to bring all
the practitioners of QA/QI closer together, as a tightly knit community with the sole intention of making sure that the raison d’etre
(purpose) of the healthcare system – our patients and their loved ones, experience healthcare that is of high quality i.e. safe, effective
and patient-centred. Organising an event of this magnitude and making it a success require tireless concerted efforts, which are
certainly in abundance amongst our dedicated staff.

Looking back and reflecting on the significant moments of each of the previous conventions - the uniqueness of each convention, the
hosting states, the people involved, the processes, the challenges, the quality projects etc., we believe that this commendable journey
is worth sharing and has its own pearls of wisdom and lessons to be learnt - thus, the idea of creating this special coffee table book
edition in conjunction with the 10 biennial QA Convention this year.
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As we started to gather the requisite materials, we realised that the story of the QA Convention was only a portion of the entire journey
of the QA programme (albeit an important one) and the picture will not be complete unless we include how the QA programme was
first introduced to the MOH and how it developed. We then tried to connect the dots in order to have the complete picture and thus,
this coffee table book is testament to this tireless endeavour.

We adopted the concept of “plant life cycle”, which mirrors the continuous cycle of quality improvement:
THE SEED
• THE SEED represents how the journey began - the starting point of the QA Programme in the MOH, with its main focus being
the National Indicator Approach (NIA)
THE PLANT
• THE PLANT represents how the QA programme grew and developed, and how QA training throughout the country has been
planned and implemented?
THE FLOWER
• THE FLOWER mainly represents the output of the QA programme in relation to QA projects implemented and the sharing of
them in the series of QA Conventions
THE FRUIT
• THE FRUIT represents how best practices from the QA projects have been translated into practice, spread and disseminated

As much as we would like to fondly reminisce on the past achievements and bask in their glory, we see this as a platform to catapult
the QA movement into the future, to ensure its continued success and relevance to healthcare as well as to ensure that future QA
Conventions continue to stoke the fire of passion and excellence within the hearts and minds of all QA practitioners in this country.
Hence, we end the story with our hopes and dreams for the QA convention and projects in particular as well as the QA Programme
as a whole.

This coffee table book may be neither all-encompassing, comprehensive nor perfect but we do hope that it will provide a simple,
informative and easy to understand narrative of the whole journey of our beloved QA Programme. It is hoped to be of special relevance
especially for those new to the QAP, in order for them to appreciate the efforts of their predecessors as well as to inspire them to take
the QAP to greater heights.

“The largest room in the world is the room for improvement”.

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The Chief Editor