GME Value - Quality Improvement & Patient Safety Toolkit
From the simple to the complex, problems plague our daily work. Quality Improvement experts Luca Boi and Ryan Murphy provide brief lessons and resources covering important problem solving techniques so you can develop solutions and make improvements.
By Luca Boi and Ryan Murphy | 5 minutes
ABOUT THIS CONTENT
WHAT THIS CONTENT IS
A collection of articles and PowerPoint presentations that provide new improvers (people interested in problem solving and process improvement) with an introduction to the problem solving framework for addressing simple and complex problems.
WHAT THIS CONTENT IS NOT
A comprehensive compendium for quality improvement. There are other resources available to understand the history and application of quality improvement principles and tools.
The objective for these lessons is to walk you step-by-step through a simple (PDSA) or complex problem as defined in the lessons.
HOW IT WORKS
Read the linked handouts and articles. Each handout and article has been selected because it provides a basic explanation and application of a problem solving principle or tool.
Watch the PowerPoint presentation recordings and videos. These short presentations provide definitions and explanations on how and why to use the problem solving framework.
Practice by doing. Using the material provided to guide you, follow each step to address a problem of your choosing. Only by doing can you really begin to understand how the problem solving framework is a guide for better, structured, quality improvement.
1. PROBLEM SOLVING FRAMEWORK - START WITH THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
Objectives:
- Identify the problem solving framework and its role in quality improvement
- Discuss why writing a clear problem statement is the first step in starting a quality improvement project
Read:
- Accelerate Article - Quality Improvement (5 min.)
- Handout - Problem Solving (2 min.)
- Accelerate Article - What Goldilocks Can Teach You About Problem Statements (3 min.)
- Handout - Problem Statement (2 min.)
Watch:
- (6 min.)
- (4 min.)
Practice: Write a problem statement for a problem you would like to solve
2. BASELINE ANALYSIS
Objectives:
- Summarize why and how the baseline analysis step reinforces your problem statement and provides clarity and direction for your quality improvement project
- Describe 3 simple and easy methods for collecting baseline data, and how sterile processing and nutrition care use data to provide high quality service
Read:
- Accelerate article - Lean Behind the Scenes: Sterile Processing (2 min.) and watch the embedded (7 min.)
- Accelerate article - Lean Behind the Scenes: Nutrition Care Services (7 min.)
- Accelerate article - Let the Process Map be Your Guide (3 min.)
- Handout -
- Handout -
- Handout -
Watch: (6 min.)
Practice: Create a process map, a fishbone diagram, or plot a run chart/histogram for the problem you would like to solve
3. INVESTIGATION AND ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
Objectives:
- Demonstrate how identifying and prioritizing the most likely causes of the problem will help support how to address the problem
- Illustrate how to create a simple fishbone diagram, and how asking why 5 times can be used to discover causes of a problem
- Discover how root cause analysis is used in reducing patient harm and promoting a culture of safety
Read: Accelerate Article - Fishbone Diagram: A Tool to Organize a Problem's Cause and Effect (2 min.)
Watch: (8 min.)
Read:
- Accelerate Article - Culture of Safety (4 min.)
- Accelerate Article - Diagnostic Error (4 min.)
- Accelerate Article - Systems Approach to Error (4 min.)
Practice: Develop a fishbone diagram for the problem you would like to solve
4. PILOT DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
Objectives:
- Define how to develop a strong intervention (the change you will make that aims at solving the problem) by addressing the causes you identified in the previous step
- Compare commonly used practices and tools used to reduce variation and process improvement
Read:
- Accelerate Article - Draw On a Wide Range of Evidence to Jump Start Your Improvement Project (2 min.)
- Accelerate Article - Standard Work (3 min)
- Accelerate Article - The Seven Wastes in Health Care (5 min.)
- Handout - Value Added vs NVA
- Handout - Standard Work
- Handout - Forcing Functions
Watch:
- (8 min.)
- (6 min.)
Practice: Illustrate how you will address the problem you would like to solve, what change you will make and how you will implement it
5. MONITORING AND CLOSING A PROJECT
Objectives:
- Interpert how data is used to determine if the change you made was successful in solving the problem
- Describe how to set goals for your project by using the SMART acronym
- Discuss how organizations use a simple, one page document to help track a quality improvement project progress and report out
Read:
- Handout - (1 min.)
- Handout - (1 min.)
- Accelerate Article - The Smart Way to Set Your New Year's Resolutions (2 min.)
- Accelerate Article - Small Goals Can Help You Get to Great Heights (3 min.)
- Handout - Project Summary A3 Document - , PPTX
Watch:
- (6 min.)
- (10 min.)
Practice:
- Formulate a SMART goal to help you assess the success of your intervention
- Compile a Project Summary A3 for your project (use included template, or one of your choosing)
For questions please contact Luca Boi at luca.boi@hsc.utah.edu.
Originally published November 18, 2021
MORE RESOURCES
CONTRIBUTORS
Luca Boi
Senior Consultant, Process Improvement, Analytics, Planning, Strategy and Improvement, Brigham and Women's Hospital
RYAN MURPHY
Hospitalist and Associate Editor, Accelerate, 91麻豆天美直播
