Quality Improvement tools
There are a range of Quality Improvement tools which can be used to support Quality Improvement in an organisation. Often a combination of tools is required depending on where an organisation sits in its improvement journey. Here we introduce both some simple low-tech Quality Improvement tools as well as digital Quality Improvement tools.
Low-tech Quality Improvement tools
- Suggestion boxes: for staff to give their feedback and suggestions for improvements.
- Marble jars: to track sentiment, asking colleagues to add a marble when they have had a good day at work.
- Huddles: daily and weekly huddles help make a positive start to the day’s work and ensure all colleagues feel involved.
- Innovation hub meetings and hackathons: making the space for people to bring their problems and their solutions to the table, refining them together, hearing the perspectives of their colleagues.
Formal Quality Improvement tools
- Clinical audits, statistical process control & performance benchmarking: These tools all measure care against agreed standards – either pre-defined ones in the case of clinical audits and statistical process control or against peers and national targets in the case of performance benchmarking.
- Process mapping & root cause analysis: To understand underlying issues, process maps plot the patient journey to assist with identifying Quality Improvement opportunities whilst root cause analysis provides a systematic framework for understanding the causes of events affecting quality.
- Model for improvement, PDSA & Lean Six Sigma: Tools for planning and testing improvement projects include the model for improvement which assists on identifying, testing and refining Quality Improvement initiatives; PDSA (plan, do, study, act) cycles which introduce and test potential improvements on a small scale; and Lean Six Sigma which eliminates waste and redirects resources for quality and efficiency.
- Decision trees & communication tools: To promote change in practice, decision trees can be used to improve the quality and consistency of processes in health and care; and communication tools can improve quality of care through structured information exchange.
More information is provided on each of these in the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership’s Guide to QI Tools.
Digital tools such as ImproveWell
Giving everyone a voice, ImproveWell makes it simple for organisations to capture continuous, real-time insight to improve staff experience and the quality of patient care.
The solution is grounded in three principles: those at the frontline are best-placed to improve the systems around them; giving staff a voice and empowering them to find solutions to the challenges they face is fundamental to engagement and positive experience; and a happier workforce leads to better patient outcomes.
Developed in partnership with health and care organisations, ImproveWell’s feedback systems provide a platform for people to drive change, together. 24/7 everyone can:
- suggest ideas for improvement;
- share how their workday is going; and
- complete tailored pulse surveys.
Insights from wider stakeholder groups can also be tapped via customisable online portals.
An intelligent data dashboard helps group and organisational leads to capture real-time data, track workforce sentiment, prioritise efforts, measure change and publish reports to complete the feedback loop. Book a demo to discover how the tool can assist your organisation
Other online resources
As you progress, you will begin to build your toolkit. Any lasting, effective model for improvement must start its transformation at the roots. It requires bottom-up improvement with continuous support from leadership at the top. There are numerous resources to get started, but here are some great sources of inspiration:
- The Health Foundation: an independent charity committed to bringing better health and care to people in the UK, from grants to research and policy analysis, the Health Foundation shines a light on how to make successful change happen. Their Improvement Lab has published a great resource on Skills for Collaborative Change.
- The King’s Fund: a health charity that shapes health and social care policy and practice, provides NHS leadership development, and hosts health events and conferences. The King’s Fund publishes excellent publications incorporating research and analysis on health and social care.
- The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI): this 30-year-old organisation uses improvement science to advance and sustain better outcomes in health and care across the world. Its reports and whitepapersinclude the Psychology of Change Framework to Advance and Sustain Improvement which addresses why people might resist change and how to address that resistance.
- British Medical Journal Quality & Safety: this journal encourages the science of improvement, debate, and new thinking on improving the quality of health and care. It integrates the academic and clinical aspects of quality and safety in healthcare.
- The Improver Podcast: hosted by ImproveWell founders Lara Mott and Dr Na’eem Ahmed, The Improver explores improvement and participatory change in health and care through interviews with key opinion leaders.
More resources on fostering bottom-up improvement with support from leadership at the top can be found in our guide to participatory change, and to learn more about quality improvement, head to our guide to Quality Improvement Basics.
