THE QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PATHWAY

THE QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PATHWAY

Quality improvement can be applied to almost any step, process or activity . The science of improvement is an applied science that prioritises innovation, rapid-cycle testing and spread with the aim of identifying what changes, and in what contexts, will result in improvement. Healthcare Improvement Scotland identifies seven stages when undertaking improve ment: 1 discovering – is about defining the aims and vision; understanding what the problem is and what data are available; 2 exploring – is about defining the present state and visu alising the future state; 3 designing – is about defining how to move from the pres ent state to the future state and identifying the priorities; 4 refining – is about testing change, learning from the data and identifying the benefits; 5 introducing – is about managing communications and building the will and culture to change; 6 spreading – is about showing the improvements, telling the story and disseminating the message; 7 closing – is about capturing and sustaining the learning. - Each step is supported by the use of tools and methodol - ogies that are appropriate to the design and planning of each step, depending on the improvement exercise being under - taken ( Table 15.5 ). - -

‘In God we trust, all others bring data.’ ‘What gets measured gets improved.’ Sequence of reactions that challenge data: “The data are wrong.” “The data are right but it’s not a problem.” “The data are right; it is a problem but not my problem.” “I accept the burden of improvement.” TABLE 15.5 Examples of tools used in quality improvement. Organisational Graphical Driver diagrams Root cause analysis Fishbone cause and effect Bene /f_i ts realisation planning diagrams Demand and capacity planning Spaghetti diagrams Process mapping Box, frequency and scatter Value stream mapping plots Kanban and 5 ‘S’ Pareto charts Run charts Statistical process control charts

THE QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PATHWAY

Quality improvement can be applied to almost any step, process or activity . The science of improvement is an applied science that prioritises innovation, rapid-cycle testing and spread with the aim of identifying what changes, and in what contexts, will result in improvement. Healthcare Improvement Scotland identifies seven stages when undertaking improve ment: 1 discovering – is about defining the aims and vision; understanding what the problem is and what data are available; 2 exploring – is about defining the present state and visu alising the future state; 3 designing – is about defining how to move from the pres ent state to the future state and identifying the priorities; 4 refining – is about testing change, learning from the data and identifying the benefits; 5 introducing – is about managing communications and building the will and culture to change; 6 spreading – is about showing the improvements, telling the story and disseminating the message; 7 closing – is about capturing and sustaining the learning. - Each step is supported by the use of tools and methodol - ogies that are appropriate to the design and planning of each step, depending on the improvement exercise being under - taken ( Table 15.5 ). - -

‘In God we trust, all others bring data.’ ‘What gets measured gets improved.’ Sequence of reactions that challenge data: “The data are wrong.” “The data are right but it’s not a problem.” “The data are right; it is a problem but not my problem.” “I accept the burden of improvement.” TABLE 15.5 Examples of tools used in quality improvement. Organisational Graphical Driver diagrams Root cause analysis Fishbone cause and effect Bene /f_i ts realisation planning diagrams Demand and capacity planning Spaghetti diagrams Process mapping Box, frequency and scatter Value stream mapping plots Kanban and 5 ‘S’ Pareto charts Run charts Statistical process control charts