Anjali Ramachandran's activity
In group: Q Visit: Public Digital (virtual)
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Anjali Ramachandran posted an update in the group Q Visit: Public Digital (virtual) 2 years ago
How creative is continuous improvement as a field – is it more an art or science?There’s a surprise during the visit on the 20th which might help you make up your mind, but in the meantime please chime in with your opinions!
Continuous improvement is more of a science as it is best done using a a set methodology based on tracking metrics.
Thanks for your thoughts Jatinder! Do you think a creative mindset in using the data or metrics would help in continuous improvement – for example, can metrics lead us to brainstorm different solutions altogether to improve a service (vs. small changes)?
Any solutions development and change work will need to be creative. There can still be a methodological approach that you use to undertake this creative work – which is where the scientific approach comes in.
I agree! Thank you. Looking forward to meeting you virtually on the 20th at this session.
Service delivery, in the view of the customer (patient), can be improved also the service delivery processes, in they view of the people delivering the service (including back office), can be improved. They both require a scientific approach but also a bit of an arty approach can be effective particularly from the view of the customer.
Thanks Thomas, that’s a really good observation – that it’s both art and science. I agree!
The first is how to address the large amount of variation, not only across NHS Trusts but within Trusts, wards and even shifts. Too many people do the same thing differently. This problem requires Process Management.
Second is the difference between Quality Improvement (QI) and Continuous Improvement (CI). QI predominantly seeks to improve output and outcome. CI, on the other hand includes, predominantly, process. Improvements to output and outcome follow CI activity automatically or as a result of changes to the Service Specification.
This is a very clear distinction between QI and CI but is not understood in healthcare.