Posted on: 29 May 2018
6 months in
It is amazing how time flies, and how far we can travel in the space of six months. QI has a solid footing in CNWL now, and we have reached a total of 171 active QI projects on Life QI . Between 16 to 18 May 2018, 83 members of staff (pictured above) from all areas of CNWL collaborated with IHI over the three day period at the Improvement Science and Action (ISIA) training. More of that in a moment.
187 staff members have registered with IHI Open School for the online training, and 266 IHI Open School modules have now been completed. If you haven't registered for the training, please do because it's clear, informative and will help you no matter where you are on your QI journey.
Improvement Science in Action (ISIA) Wave 1 (16 to 18 May 2018)
The first cohort of ISIA, involving 83 CNWL staff from a variety of pay grades and professional groups took place between 16 and 18 May at Bush House, the former site of BBC's World Service, now part of Kings College University.
This collaborative learning programme (delivered in partnership with IHI) was launched by Dr. Con Kelly our Medical Director. Dr. Kelly, who participated in all three days of the programme, emphasised the Executive team's commitment to Quality Improvement using the model for improvement that was central to the ISIA learning programme.
Delegates who attended shared their enthusiasm for both QI and the programme in their feedback.
"Very useful, thought provoking, relevant. Excellent workshop, highly recommend. Genuine commitment from facilitators to support learners."
"Really found the three days illuminating, valuable for my QI project and have learnt much more than expected."<
Thank you to all those who attended, and who contributed with such openness and enthusiasm. Wave 2 of Improvement Science in Action will take place later in the year, in November, with 90 available places for CNWL staff undertaking a QI project. Details of how to apply will be shared in a future newsletter.
To QI or not to QI?
If you're considering starting a QI project here are some pointers to guide you toward project selection:
Getting started:
It's best to start a project in an area where you are able to influence the systems, processes, products or resources where the anticipated changes will be made.
- Knowing that you have limited resources and your day job -- consider the time you will have available for your QI project.
- Think about a problem you are passionate about solving.
- Do others care about it? Think about buy-in from your project team.
- Remember people will consider "What's In It For Me?"
- Who will be your team? (and by the way, 2 of committed people across different disciplines is a great start!) Don't forget to consider service users and carers on your project team?
- What's your sphere of influence?
- Does the improvement area relate to part of your regular job / activities and you are familiar with it?
The project you propose should be important for your team or services.
Duration and size of the project
Your first QI project should be three to nine months duration. Start small and scale up if appropriate. Don't try and solve world peace in your QI project. At the same time be ambitious.
If you are struggling to think of a project idea you may want to consider running a QI project in one of the identified priorities areas for QI these are:
- Improving Clinical Effectiveness
- Improving Access
- Improving Patient and Carer Experience
- Improving Patient Safety
What are not good candidates for a project
- Developing a measurement system
- Fixing a transient problem
- One off or infrequent training or educational workshops
- Any project where you cannot answer the question, "How will you know a change is an improvement?"
- Huge ("solving world hunger") projects with short timeframes
- Politically charged issues
How can Tim Wood help you identify potential QI projects?
Those of you who are regular readers of this newsletter may recall the cliff-hanger of a question posed in last month's edition. How can Tim Wood help you identify potential QI projects?
Here's Tim Wood. He's here to help you remember the acronym below, which is a really useful tool for identifying waste in your teams.
- Transportation (unnecessary movement of things between processes)
- Inventory (raw material, work in progress not having value added to it)
- Movement (unnecessary movement of people within a process)
- Waiting (people (or parts) waiting for a work cycle to be complete
- Over-production (producing sooner, faster or in greater quantities than customer demands)
- Over-processing (processing beyond the standard required by the customer)
- Defects (not right first time, repetition or correction of a process)
Can you identify any of the above wastes in your team or locality? How might they be reduced or eliminated by implementing a QI project?
Life QI: Tip of the month -- Linking your project to a Trust priority
1. Open your project
2. In the front screen of your project -- the "General" menu -- click "Edit" on the top right
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "Link a priority"
4. A window will then pop up with the priority areas
5. Click "Link" on your chosen priority area.
6. Don't forget use the blue button at the top of the screen to save!
Improvement Coach Development Programme (ICDP) delivered in partnership with IHI
The Trust's Quality Improvement Programme is now taking expressions of interest from Band 6 staff and above for Improvement Coach Development Programme (ICDP) with IHI. This course is three-month journey to further develop your improvement knowledge and skills so you can coach and facilitate quality improvement project teams, as well as support the implementation of quality improvement strategies throughout CNWL.
The expectation is that you will not necessarily change your current role into a full-time quality improvement professional. Rather, this course will build your knowledge and skills in the application of the science of improvement that will, in turn, complement your specific area of specialisation. Following the completion of this course the expectation will be that you coach teams within your service or geography for nominally half a day a week.
To gain the most out of this course, it is essential that you have knowledge of and previous experience applying quality improvement concepts, methods, and tools, and are looking for more training in coaching and facilitating quality improvement projects.
Help and support
Key contacts for help and support or for more information about running your Quality Improvement projects.