Links Project Report:developing the connections between general practices and their communities

Appendix 4: PDSA Cycle of Change

PDSA Cycle

A structured trial of a process change. Drawn from the Shewhart cycle, this effort includes:

Plan - a specific planning phase;
Do - a time to try the change and observe what happens;
Study - an analysis of the results of the trial; and
Act - devising next steps based on the analysis.

This PDSA cycle will naturally lead to the Plan component of a subsequent cycle.

Creating an Improvement Culture provides essential knowledge on change management approaches and continuous improvement.

These tools and techniques allowed the practice staff to fully understand their existing processes, identify where duplications and delays occurred and areas where improvement work could be focussed in a way that met the needs of the local service.

The resulting improvements were reported as PDSAs on the Community of Practice and were accessible to colleagues across Scotland in order to provide them with examples to draw on that helped them in the planning and execution of further change projects.