ABSTRACT
This chapter helps the readers to understand the concept of cycles of improvement and describe the stages of an improvement cycle. It shows the need to scope a problem and also helps the reader to be familiar with forms that can be used in improvement cycles. Improvement cycles are used because they provide a standard way of structuring improvement work. The commonest improvement cycle used in health care settings is Plan – Do – Study – Act (PDSA). The model is useful partly because it can be used for small projects involving changes to one process on one ward or in one team, but it can also be applied to larger change projects. There are several ways of identifying the need for PDSA cycles, and of preparing for the work, such as the Model for Improvement and the FOCUS model. The Model for Improvement is widely used and has been adopted by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
