Quality Improvement Models and The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) Cycle

Quality Improvement Models
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Quality Improvement Models
Quality Improvement (QI) is an important aspect of healthcare as it promotes patient safety and the effectiveness and efficiency of the healthcare system. Healthcare administrators have to prioritize quality improvement as a core goal. According to Drew and Pandit (2020), QI is team-focused and very dependent on a culture that encourages positive change. This makes QI important to healthcare administrators because QI can enhance the performance and achievement of healthcare organizational goals across all healthcare teams. Through QI, processes and procedures are improved, thus minimizing chances of failure. Also, QI allows healthcare organizations to recognize and eliminate what is not working, thus enhancing efficiency in the delivery of care. Healthcare administrators should take QI seriously due to its benefits in healthcare delivery. There are various models of QI that healthcare administrators can adopt, as discussed by Joshi, Ransom, Nash, and Ranson (2014). They include the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle, Lean Thinking, and Six Sigma, among others.
The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) Cycle
This model was first developed by Walter Shewhart in the 1920s and has since been used in managing any activities aimed at performance improvement (Joshi, Ransom, Nash, & Ranson, 2014). The PDSA cycle follows various stages that are useful in planning and directing any undertakings in performance improvement.
* Stage One: Plan
During this stage, healthcare administrators need to identify and establish the goals they want to achieve (Joshi, Ransom, Nash, & Ranson, 2014). Timelines and magnitudes of the intended improvement should be considered when establishing goals. Also, they should have forecasts of what they expect to happen, who will be tasked with the improvement activities, where they will take place, and when the activities will commence and end.
* Stage Two: Do
During this stage, healthcare administrators should put the plan into action. They should start by training and educating their staff about the plan and what it entails (Joshi, Ransom, Nash, & Ranson, 2014). Then, they should do a pilot test of the plan before going full-scale. This will enable them to check the feasibility of the plan and identify any issues with the plan. Identified issues should be documented and analyzed during this stage.
* Stage Three: Study
Based on the results of the data analysis, healthcare administrators should evaluate how the proposed activities affected the quality. During this stage, the healthcare administrators should check whether the results of the pilot test were in line with the set goals. Did the change bring the intended improvement? Also, did it match the predictions in stage one? Based on the findings, identifying areas of the plan that should be changed and how to go about it is imperative. This will ensure that the plan is effective before it can be applied full-scale.
* Stage Four: Act
During this stage, the healthcare administrator should use the lessons learned in stage three. Based on the lessons, they should decide whether to roll-out the plan in full-scale with certain alterations or whether to develop a new plan. If the results of the pilot test were not desirable, a new plan should be considered. If they were desirable, slight changes to make it better should be made. Either way, healthcare administrators have to make the necessary changes. They should also establish what other gaps exist in the performance quality and repeat the PDSA cycle all over again until the desired results are achieved.
Healthcare administrators can apply the PDSA cycle to promote the use of evidence-based practices in healthcare (Coury, et al., 2017). For instance, they can use this model to promote the uptake of flu vaccination in a nursing home. In this case, the objective would be to ensure a 100% vaccine uptake by all eligible residents in the nursing home. This uptake would be promoted through the creation of awareness of the importance of vaccination among residents. A team of nurses would be involved in creating awareness. The nurses would receive training on how best to reach the residents and convince them. The awareness creation activities should start small by focusing on a small group of residents and based on the results from the small group, the rest of the residents can be targeted as well after the necessary changes have been made. Healthcare administrators should then repeat this cycle until all eligible residents start getting vaccinated.
Lean Thinking
Lean Thinking refers to methodologies that enhance effective production in terms of reduced product defects and production time. When compared to other production methods, Lean Thinking is more effective and efficient. Th...