{"id":806,"date":"2023-12-22T13:11:24","date_gmt":"2023-12-22T18:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/ohsp\/?page_id=806"},"modified":"2026-09-09T17:18:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T21:18:46","slug":"qmp","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/ohsp\/quality-improvement\/qmp\/","title":{"rendered":"Quality Management Plan Guidance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The central goal of our Quality Management Plan (QMP) guidance is to provide resources that encourage, guide, integrate, and enhance continuous quality improvement for a research site, research program, or department\/division.<\/p>\n

This guide on this page is intended to aid investigators and research staff in QMP set-up, implementation, and evaluation and to prioritize areas of potential risk to target.<\/p>\n

Get a Quality Management Consultation<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The central goal of our Quality Management Plan (QMP) guidance is to provide resources that encourage, guide, integrate, and enhance continuous quality improvement for a research site, research program, or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"parent":5046,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-806","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"lead_in":"","display_title":"Quality Management Plan (QMP) Guidance","subtitle":"","call_to_action":"","hero_image_placement":"no_image","hero_media":"images","hero_pattern_option":"","hero_video":"","hero_external_video_url":"","hero_external_video_title":"","hero_external_video_poster":"","hero_image_landing":"","hero_image_landing_two":"","hero_image_landing_three":"","content_modules":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"qualitymgmt","css_class":"","title":"

What is quality management?<\/h2>","content":"Quality management within a study protocol includes all of the following:\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. a well-designed study protocol<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. appropriately trained (and dedicated) study team<\/li>\r\n \t
  3. appropriately delegated tasks<\/li>\r\n \t
  4. study (and site) feasibility<\/li>\r\n \t
  5. sufficient monitoring of subject safety<\/li>\r\n \t
  6. adequate data monitoring and management. [1, 2, 4, 5, 6]<\/sup><\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nAdditional information is available through the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative\u2019s (CTTI) Quality by Design Project<\/a> and their 'Critical to Quality Factors Principles Document'<\/a>. Local resources pertaining to study design, protocol development, feasibility assessment, study team training, etc. are available on our Resources page<\/a> and through the Clinical & Translational Science Institute<\/a>.","background_color":"#f4f4f4","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"accordion_new","anchor_id":"overview","classes":"","title":"

    Quality Management Plan overview<\/h2>","description":"","background":"decorative","background_color":"#ffffff","style":"row_blank","expand":"no","accordions":[{"acf_fc_layout":"accordion","accordion_title":"What is a QMP?","icon":"","row_content":"In its most basic form, \u2018quality\u2019 in the conduct of human subject research is defined by the absence of errors. Therefore, a Quality Management Plans (QMP) is a detailed strategy outlining how errors will be identified and assessed during the conduct of a study. [1,2] <\/sup><\/a>It is important to remember when developing a QMP that errors range in severity and their potential to introduce risk to subjects (e.g., minor documentation errors versus enrolling subjects without Institutional Review Board [IRB] approval). The goal of a QMP is to assist in conducting high quality research, which is research that protects subjects, is conducted in a compliant manner, and produces \u2018good\u2019 data with reliable conclusions. [3]<\/sup><\/a>\r\n<\/sup>\r\n\r\nTraditionally, assessing quality has been reactive; errors are identified and addressed after the fact. The ideal method of quality management is proactive, which involves the study team implementing a process to continuously assess the quality of the research operation by building quality measures into a study during the development stage.","accordion_anchor":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"accordion","accordion_title":"Why have a QMP?","icon":"","row_content":"The increasing complexity of study protocols drives levels of site burden higher and, while causality has not been demonstrated, may adversely affect site performance [7]<\/sup><\/a>. Compounding this notion with data demonstrating that common deficiencies identified by the FDA during site inspections have remained unchanged over the past several years [6]<\/sup><\/a> further drives the need to put proactive QMP procedures into place.\r\n\r\nAs study protocols become increasingly complex and the requirement for single-IRB review becomes more common, study teams must be vigilant about maintaining the integrity of the study, protecting subjects and ensuring the quality of the data.[3, 5, 6]<\/sup><\/a> Neglecting to identify and address errors may compromise study data, put subjects at undue risk, prevent the ability to meet protocol objectives, and put both the Investigator and the institution at risk with federal regulators (OHRP and FDA) and sponsors.\r\n\r\nImplementing a QMP may help a study team to successfully achieve study objectives, while:\r\n