What is Quality Improvement?

A generally accepted definition of quality improvement in public service is to continually work together to improve the experience and outcomes for users and the working lives of the staff who deliver it.

One of the most relevant quality improvement frameworks in healthcare is used by the Improvement Foundation. The framework is drawn from the work of Penny (2003), coupled with the model of quality improvement by Langley et al (1996). This model of quality improvement consistently delivers results and revolves around three simple questions:

1. What are we trying to accomplish?
2. How will we know that a change is an improvement?
3. What changes can we make that will result in improvement?

There are various tools and techniques to help answer each question. Once they have been answered and changes made have resulted in an improvement, they are then tested using the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle of rapid change.

The PDSA Cycle

The PDSA Cycle is similar to the scientific method of hypothesis. However, the crucial difference is that the PDSA model enables change through a series of rapid, small-scale cycles that successively build on the knowledge from the previous cycle.

For more information on quality improvement and the PDSA model, refer to the Understanding Quality Improvement Practice Guide.
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