HEALTHCARE QUALITY PAGE
Published February 2025
Is there a practical way to plan change interventions? — Part 3 on improving the change process
When actions are implemented without a clear understanding of what they involve and how they will work, they can produce superficial, short-lived change. People may make mistaken assumptions about how change will happen and how it will improve quality or patient safety.
A systematic approach to planning and implementing change includes these steps:
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Identify the specific improvement to be achieved.
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Mould opinion to favour the improvement among key stakeholders.
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Prepare for a new way by selecting change interventions that are both effective and feasible.
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Redesign or design the work, streamlining it where possible.
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Operate the new way on a trial basis.
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Verify that the new way works by measuring the effectiveness of change interventions.
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Eliminate unwanted variation.
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Stabilize the new way through ongoing monitoring and feedback.
One useful tool is to brainstorm possible change interventions, then rate each on a 1-to-7 scale for likely effectiveness in achieving the desired outcome and feasibility in the work environment. Measurement of effectiveness of change is essential: a new approach may satisfy those who thought up the change but does not result in improvement in the absence of evidence of the benefit.
