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Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles
PDSA cycles are a four-step model for improvement introduced by Walter A. Shewhart as PDCA cycle, and further developed by W. Edwards Deming into the PDSA that we know today. It provides a rapid way to test out small changes, learn from ideas and establish what does and what doesn’t work.
As PDSA is one of the most commonly used tools in healthcare improvement work, we are refreshing some old learning articles and adding to them new topics like ‘sequential vs. simultaneous PDSA cycles’. Check out a few of the new articles below and don’t miss out on the latest from our Improvement Hero series - Lloyd Nelson, the man behind special cause variation.
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Sequential PDSA vs. Simultaneous PDSAWe look at the different types of ‘Plan-Do-Study-Act’ (PDSA) cycles you can use – sequential and simultaneous – and explore the pros and cons of using each methodology to test out small changes and then build on them. Read more.
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Use of PDSAs in healthcarePDSAs have been used to support improvement in healthcare for many years now to implement changes in a healthcare setting without causing major disruption for patients or clinicians or co-workers alike. Find out more about the benefits of using PDSAs and some great examples from the healthcare industry. Read more.
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Lloyd Nelson: The man who developed the concept of Special Cause VariationLloyd S. Nelson (1922 - 2013) had a long and distinguished career in quality control. During his long career in quality, Lloyd Nelson created the 8 Nelson rules, which are still used today in Quality Improvement and quality control. Read more.
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Interesting Read
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Learning Patient Safety Culture: Turning Fog to ConcreteA recent IHI article discusses the importance and benefits of integrating specialised patient safety course for medical students through the example of the University of North Texas Health Science Center (HSC) at Fort Worth’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (TCOM). Read more.
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Life QI Blog
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Case studies!
If you have any success stories or would be interested in doing a mini case study with us, we would love to hear from you. Click here to drop us an email
