ABSTRACT Participation in Australian health quality improvement programmes is highly variable and often poor. Overseas guides suggest medical professionals, healthcare organisations and patients have an ethical and perhaps legal responsibility to participate in quality improvement programmes. There appear to be no similar Australian recommendations. With the increasing development of quality improvement programmes in Australia there is an urgent need to recognise that resistance to quality improvement participation is inconsistent with professional ethical and legal obligations to provide best care.
R J Aitken (Mon,) studied this question.