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2. Pick a methodology

The second step in the CQI Module is to pick a quality improvement methodology to monitor and test any change the practice makes in response to the problem they have identified.

Plan, Do, Study, Act methodology

The College recommends the simple and effective Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) methodology. This method is designed to quickly run small-scale tests on a change, and then act on the results. Lots of repeated, small tests can build a good process that is ready for implementation, and helps people learn quickly from their work.

See more detail about the PDSA methodology
See the Institute for Healthcare’s guidance on improvement using PDSA

Other methodologies

There are also other methodologies practice teams can choose, for example:

  • clinical audit
  • model for improvement
  • LEAN/Six Sigma
  • performance benchmarking
  • process mapping
  • statistical process control.