The Model for Improvement
The Model for Improvement, developed by Associates in Process Improvement, is a simple yet powerful tool for accelerating improvement. Its philosophy of small tests of change underlies all of NICHQ's improvement work. The 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:
- Three fundamental questions, which can be addressed in any order:
- What are we trying to accomplish (setting aims)
- How will we know if a change is an improvement (establishing measures)
- What changes can we make that will result in improvement (selecting changes to test)
- The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle to test and implement changes in real work settings. The PDSA cycle guides the test of a change to determine if the change is an improvement.
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 used for action-oriented learning.
