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Niatx
E-News Update
June 2006

In This Issue

Research to the Real World
Research to Real World

The addiction treatment field is working hard to meet policy and regulatory requirements to implement evidence-based practices—interventions that have been scientifically proven to promote positive client outcomes. In health services research, the gold standard for testing and proving evidence-based practices is the randomized controlled trial (RCT). Yet randomized controlled trials are time-consuming and expensive, and evaluate effectiveness only at a global level. Process improvement offers a complement to randomized controlled trials, helping service providers test evidence-based practices in their own unique settings.

The NIATx process improvement methodology is generalizable to other organizations that desire to improve their own real-world processes quickly. Along the way, NIATx member organizations are proving the effectiveness of key practices that can be implemented on a broad scale. Through rapid-cycle testing, we can obtain new knowledge in five days or five weeks—rather than five years. [READ MORE]


NIATx Presentations

  • July 9-12
    First SAAS National Conference for Executives and Senior Managers in Addiction Services. Sponsored by State Associations of Addiction Service
    Chicago, IL

    CLICK HERE to see a one-page ad of the NIATx track on process improvement.

Daybreak: Defining and Delivering Quality

According to Philip Crosby in Quality Without Tears, "quality is conformance with specifications." Applying this idea to addiction treatment, we can ask, “What are the specified outcomes of treatment, and who determines them?” Historically, abstinence from all chemical use was the ultimate and only outcome. Now, few people have a clear specification of the outcome. Everyone wants quality, but few can (or will) identify exactly what they want. [READ MORE]


The Improvement Cafe

At "The Improvement Café," a breakout session at the Sixth NIATx Learning Session held in Orlando, Florida this May, participants looked at the four NIATx aims through the lens of the restaurant industry. The result? Led by process improvement coaches Tommie Ann Bower (Gosnold, Inc.) and Don Holloway, the group brainstormed a catalog of creative strategies for rapid-cycle testing.[READ MORE]


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