Dear Members,
   My name is Wang Jun Lee, and I am the 15th president of the Korean Society for Quality in Health Care (KoSQua).

   In the midst of the time heavily affected by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, I feel a greater sense of responsibility than ever to be appointed as the head of KoSQua, and am proud of the Society having the largest number of members in South Korea with a 28-year history. Moreover, as the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) Conference 2023 will be held in Seoul for the first time, I feel the weight and pressure of hosting the event on the one hand, but on the other, I am excited and full of expectations and aspirations.

   Over the past decade, health care quality improvement (QI) and patient safety (PS) activities in South Korea have accomplished remarkable development and growth. Many areas have been incorporated into the institutional evaluation system, and we have witnessed 12 years of growth since the establishment of the Korea Institute for Healthcare Accreditation and the accreditation system. However, contrary to the expansion and institutionalization of the quality evaluation and accreditation system in terms of formality, the actual substance of the system has rather become deteriorated and weakened without significant tangible outcomes.

   As a result, there is growing criticism that health care quality evaluation and accreditation have been reduced into “evaluation for the sake of evaluation” and “tools of procedural administration.” Practitioners and staff in charge of the operation of the system in the field of health care service have become exhausted, and it is increasingly difficult to find genuine rapport and enthusiasm for health care QI activities among hospital health care workers. Without the active responses and feedback in the field of health care service and joint collaboration between practitioners of health care QI activities and hospital workers, no one can be sure of accomplishing meaningful results in terms of QI and PS activities.

   Therefore, the first strategic priority I would like to emphasize the most during my tenure of appointment is to create strategic momentum to turn the existing paradigm upside down. Now, it is time that we should develop and shape our QI and PS activities into " Joyful, Meaningful, and Beneficial" activities. To this end, we should plan and implement major reforms of the health care quality evaluation system and accreditation system (policies, systems, fees, incentives, etc.), driving innovation on a significant scale. Over the next two years, we will lead the way of harmonious collaboration in laying the foundation for the innovation and reestablishment of new strategies and directions.

   The second strategic priority is to bring groundbreaking changes and expansion for KoSQua's academic activities and educational/training projects. In particular, we will endeavor to establish a system of nurturing healthcare QI and PS activity specialists in each unit by establishing a new training center, operating regular training programs, and creating a training certificate system classified into levels.

   The third strategic priority is the expansion of the organization of KoSQua and increasing financial resources. We will put our utmost efforts into expanding the scope of health care QI and PS activities to small and medium-sized, nursing, and psychiatric hospitals, which are in desperate need of these activities. In addition, taking the changing hospital environment with Generation Z forming the mainstream into account, we will implement radical changes in the communication structure and public relations environment of KoSQua based on various media of social network services.

   We ask for the participation and support of all members of KoSQua. Together, based on our capabilities accumulated over the history, we can establish a new paradigm of QI activities, turning the activities into truly existing and rewarding ones.

   Thank you for your support.