Creating a culture of improvement: experience of a pediatric cystic fibrosis center.

Quality improvement (QI) efforts at the University of Alabama at Birmingham/Children's Hospital Cystic Fibrosis Center began in the spring of 2004, with a collaborative sponsored by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. As the authors gained experience with QI processes, significant system changes ensued. In this article, we describe how the center created a culture of improvement that has resulted in significant improvements in clinical outcomes in our patient population.