PDSA - Plan - Do - Study - Act

• A team of people
• Basic knowledge of Process Improvement tools
• A way to document and track the process, a paper or computerized method with graphs and charts

Possible Quality Improvement tools to use: Affinity Diagram, AIM Statement, Cause & Effect (Fishbone) Diagram, Control Charts, Histograms, Process Mapping, Run Charts

• Document what you plan to do. Describe the problem and state the objective.
• After identifying the major causes of the problem using the Model for Improvement, determine what changes need to be made to improve the process. What will you do to improve?
• Make predictions about what might happen and why.
  "If we do __________, then __________ will happen."
• Develop a plan to test the change. Identify the following elements:
  • What is going to happen? (What are you testing?)
  • When is it going to happen?
  • How long will it last?
  • Who is responsible for making it happen?
  • What types of data will be collected? Who will collect it? How will it be collected?

Implementation of the plan outlined during the Plan stage.

• Carry out the test.
  • Verify all systems are ready for data collection.
  • Prepare staff regarding what will be happening during the "Do" phase.
  • Train the individuals involved how to collect the data.
• Document problems or unexpected observations. Include a space or way for staff to write down observations of occurrences during the day that may affect the data.
  • Were you able to follow the instructions in the Plan phase? If not, why not?
  • What occurred that interfered with the planned process?
• Analyze the data.
  • Was the data collected per instructions?
  • Are there any gaps?
  • Use a bar graph, run chart, histogram or another tool to display data for easier analysis

What did you learn?

• Complete the analysis.
  • What is the data telling you?
  • Are there patterns?
• Compare collected data to your predictions.
  • Was the test similar or different than your predictions?
  • What was unexpected in your findings?
• Summarize what was learned.

Refine the change based on what was learned from the test.

• Determine if modifications need to be made (adapt, adopt, or abandon).
  • Adapt - Make any modifications to your data collection or your teaching instructions if needed.
  • Adopt the tool and the findings if everything meets expectations.
  • Abandon the test and begin again if the test did not accomplish what was expected.
    NOTE: This does not mean that you have a bad outcome. Only abandon if you did not measure what you intended to measure.
  • Prepare a plan for the next test.