Model for Improvement
Nurse leaders understand the importance of continuous quality improvement to increase efficiency and improve patient outcomes. Quality improvement begins with the establishment of a culture based in transparency and continuous evaluation of nurse-sensitive quality indicators and clinical outcomes. The model for improvement was developed by Associates in Process Improvement (API). It is a simple, yet powerful tool for accelerating improvement . The IHI combined the total quality management tool and the plan-do-study-act cycle (PDSA) into the model for improvement.
The first step is to select the right people to establish teams. “A process improvement team is critical to a successful improvement effort. Teams vary in size and composition”. Health care organizations build teams based on the process that needs improvement. After the teams are formed, goals are set, and the team determines what it is trying to accomplish and what process needs to be improved. The goal should be measurable and time-specific. Teams use quantitative measures to determine whether a specific change led to improvement. A change must be made that will result in improvement. The change is implemented on a small scale for evaluation using the PDSA cycle.
The change will be planned, tried, and observed, and actions will be taken depending on what was learned. This is action-oriented learning. After testing the change to see if it was successful, it can be brought to the entire organization and improvements can be made. By analyzing the data and finding areas for improvement, teams can use the model for improvement to find processes that can be implemented for quality improvement.
