E06 – Innovative Methods for Efficient Plan-Do-Study-Act Analysis in a Fast-Paced Integrated Primary Care Environment

Summary

Quality improvement is an area in which healthcare organizations strive to achieve; however, the realities of being in a fast-paced, safety-net primary care clinic often preclude the ability to efficiently evaluate the clinical utility of implemented quality improvement interventions beyond objective statistical measures. Although statistical measures may show significant improvements in outcomes, such as HbA1c scores, these measures may not accurately reflect the amount of labor that was required to affect change, thus calling into question the effectiveness of the intervention and opportunities for improvement. The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) Model for Improvement is a tool that was developed by the Associates in Process Improvement in order to track a test of change, and is used by numerous healthcare organizations. Although there are several PDSA worksheets available, these worksheets can be confusing to healthcare employees who have not received specific training in this area or lack experience with this process. Furthermore, lacking an advance plan to evaluate a test of change, such as tracking outcome measurements, can significantly increase the amount of time required to determine if the test of change was effective, thereby obfuscating the process of the PDSA in of itself. This presentation aims to provide a brief overview of the PDSA process, while taking a look at innovative methods that were utilized in an integrated family medicine residency primary care clinic to ensure the completion of PDSAs in a time-efficient manner. This presentation will provide PDSA examples ranging from implementation of new behavioral health services to the development of a new job position. Audience members will be encouraged to identify an intervention at their clinic for which they would like to complete and PDSA, recognize potential barriers to the PDSA, and develop solutions for overcoming these barriers.