Science of Improvement: How to Improve

The Model for Improvement,* developed by Associates in Process Improvement, is a simple yet powerful tool for accelerating improvement. The model is not meant to replace change models that organizations may already be using, but rather to accelerate improvement.
This model has been used very successfully by hundreds of health care organizations in many countries to improve many different health care processes and outcomes.

The model has two parts:

The fundamental questions, which can be addressed in any order.
The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle, to test changes in real work settings. The PDSA cycle guides the test of a change to determine if the change is an improvement.

Forming the Team

Including the right people on a process improvement team is critical to a successful improvement effort. Teams vary in size and composition. Each organization builds teams to suit its own needs.

Setting Aims
Improvement requires setting aims. The aim should be time-specific and measurable; it should also define the specific population of patients or other system that will be affected.

Establishing Measures
Teams use quantitative measures to determine if a specific change actually leads to an improvement.

Selecting Changes
Ideas for change may come from the insights of those who work in the system, from change concepts or other creative thinking techniques, or by borrowing from the experience of others who have successfully improved.

Testing Changes
The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle is shorthand for testing a change in the real work setting — by planning it, trying it, observing the results, and acting on what is learned. This is the scientific method adapted for action-oriented learning.

Implementing Changes
After testing a change on a small scale, learning from each test, and refining the change through several PDSA cycles, the team may implement the change on a broader scale — for example, for an entire pilot population or on an entire unit.

Spreading Changes
After successful implementation of a change or package of changes for a pilot population or an entire unit, the team can spread the changes to other parts of the organization or in other organizations.

G Mohan.