Plan
During the Plan phase, nurses identify a specific problem or area for improvement. They gather relevant data, set goals, and develop a detailed plan to test a change. This phase involves answering the following questions:
- What is the problem we aim to solve?
- What change can we make that will result in improvement?
- How will we measure the effectiveness of the change?
Do
In the Do phase, the planned change is implemented on a small scale. Nurses carry out the plan and collect data on the impact of the change. This phase is crucial for observing how the change works in practice and identifying any unforeseen issues.
Study
The Study phase focuses on analyzing the collected data to determine the effectiveness of the change. Nurses compare the results against the goals set in the Plan phase. Key questions to answer include:
- Did the change lead to the desired improvement?
- What were the unexpected outcomes, if any?
- What can we learn from the data?
Act
Based on the findings from the Study phase, the Act phase involves deciding whether to adopt, adapt, or abandon the change. If the change was successful, it might be implemented on a larger scale. If not, the cycle begins again with modifications based on the lessons learned.
