PDSA

Plan-Do-Study-Act

PDSA

Kerry CopleyCQI CoordinatorTop End

Louise PatelCQI Coordinator Central Australia & Barkly

PDSA stands for Plan - Do - Study - Act.

The PDSA is a fundamental tool for quality improvement.

You can use the PDSA cycle to improve just about anything - simple but powerful

The more you use it, the more you improve.

The PDSA was made popular by

Dr W Edwards Deming, who is considered by who is considered by many to be the father of modern quality control.

Three key questions What are we trying to

accomplish? (GOAL) How will we know that

a change is an a change is an improvement? (MEASUREMENT)

What changes can we make that will result in an improvement? (IDEAS)

PLAN DO

First step in the cycle is to plan Do what was planned

- implement the plan.

Describe the idea

What, who, when, where?

What do you predict will happen?

How will you measure it – data/info to be collected

STUDY

Check it – Monitor

Analyse results Analyse results

Evaluate – impact of process

Reflect

Compare to predictions

Summarise learnings

ACT

Refine the change, based on what was learnt

Determine what modifications should be made

Prepare a plan for the next PDSA

Many Health Services are using the PDSA model, but sometimes they fail to complete the cycle and miss out on the full benefits of the process.

Don’t just do the Plan and Do parts of the PDSA

Remember to follow though and do the Studyand Act as well

Engage the team to generate ideas.

Keep your PDSA simple and specific

Keep your PDSA small – break down big projects into small pieces

Keep your PDSA cycles short – what you can do in a week

Two teams

One person in each team is to document the PDSA

The rest are to contribute ideas

Using the PDSA template complete the 3 Key questions and the PLAN and DO part of the PDSA.part of the PDSA.

Each team has to plan and build a tower

The winner will have the tallest tower AND also the strongest

See who can knock down the other team’s tower with the tennis balls.

Once you have built your tower – PLAN and DO – we will test it.

Now you can do the Study and Act part of the PDSA

What did you learn? What did you learn?

Use that information to build a taller, stronger tower for the next challenge