Measuring and sharing data is a vital part of being successful in QI.
Data is required to understand current performance, as well as to help develop ideas and test changes to see if they lead to improvement.
There are three different types of measures to consider when monitoring the impact of your improvement:
- Outcome Measures: How is the system performing? What is the result?
- Process Measures: Are the parts/steps in the system performing reliably and as planned?
- Balancing Measures: Did the changes we made to improve one part of the system affect other parts of the system?
Tips when measuring for improvement
- Establish what you trying to measure and what data items you will collect for each measure, (they may be different)
- Consider how you will display your data but keep it simple and make it accessible
- Remember to take a baseline measurement and to set your targets or goals against this
- Agree who is responsible for collecting the data and when data collection will take place
- Remember that measurement is important, but it is not the aim
Be the Change 
One thought on “Measuring for improvement”