The definition of quality used in the Alberta Quality Matrix for Health (Matrix) has been updated.
Since its adoption in 2005, the Matrix has served as a benchmark for quality and provided a common language used widely across the province to support improvement.
As a replacement for the Matrix, our new resource revises the common definition of quality as seen at the centre of an integrated people-centred health system.
This update brings together input from system partners across Alberta, patient advisors, and communities, along with insights gleaned from leading frameworks in use within and beyond Alberta and Canada.
How the updated quality dimensions can be used
The quality dimensions act as a lens through which people’s experience in the health system can be viewed. They guide the user in reflecting on people’s needs and how care should be experienced by people.
The dimensions can be applied at system, organizational, and care-delivery levels, informing policy, strategy, and design for the system and giving organizations and teams a common language that shifts thinking and practice toward integrated people-centred care.
Download our resources to see how the former dimension “acceptable” has evolved into “people-centred,” how the meaning of “safe” has matured to include all forms of preventable harm, and how “equitable” and “integrated” have been added to the definition of quality.