Stripe 3 - Improvement priorities
The following aspects will need to be addressed in this stage of implementing Team Stripes and the following information and resources will support.
This section is a guide to commencing the improvement work. Because teams who use the Team Stripes framework will vary in their improvement priorities it will be helpful to refer to other toolkits for specific advice.
For example, if your improvement priority is related to care of the patient who is in the last days of life, see the Last Days of Life Toolkit. Or if the priority relates to medication management see the Medication Management Toolkit.
The improvement project brief is essentially a document that outlines your improvement project. It should include what the problem is, why is it important (to patients, their families, staff and the broader community), how long it will take to do and the approach you will use to achieve an improvement.
A strong improvement project brief should be founded on the supporting data you have collected, should take into consideration how the improvement will be sustained and align with your health service's priorities. You can use the improvement project brief to help with gaining support for your improvement project.
It is strongly recommended that you maintain contact with your Clinical Governance Unit throughout all phases of the Team Stripes framework to maintain the support for and during improvement work. Your Clinical Governance Unit will be able to link you with local quality improvement experts.
You may also choose to reach out to colleagues in other health services to find out how they approached their improvement work, including their successes and learnings.
It is essential to gain leadership support from within your health service as all improvement projects require an investment of time, resources and commitment at every stage of the project.
Use your Improvement Project Brief to gain a project sponsor. The project sponsor is someone who can provide support and guidance to you during the improvement project.
They can help with ensuring appropriate resources are provided and help remove barriers when needed. Ideally, your project sponsor is someone who does not work directly on the improvement project but is in a senior position.
The level of seniority of the project sponsor will depend on the scope of your improvement project (for example, Nurse Unit Manager versus an Executive Director). Ideally you should communicate closely with the project sponsor and provide regular updates.
Your project sponsor will be able to provide guidance on where the governance for your improvement work will sit within your health service. This will ensure there is operational responsibility for the improvement work and a channel to report back on progress. For example:
- At unit/ward level: Integrate project reporting with existing team meetings, briefly in huddles, education sessions
- At health service/LHD/SHN level: Integrate project reporting with existing clinical practice improvement unit (or equivalent) meetings, and other groups relevant to the work that is being implemented.
Note this is different from your project team structure. Your project team will consist of members who carry out the project interventions.
The improvement project team should be interdisciplinary and include the right people, with the right experiences, expertise, and interest in contributing. For example:
- Team leader
- Quality improvement advisor/expert
- People from all areas of the process the improvement project will target, including junior and senior staff
- Consumer representative (or interview / survey consumers).
The team leader role is essential; they will organise and lead the team meetings, ensure delegation of responsibilities and be the 'voice' for the improvement project.
As the team leader, it is essential to assemble a dedicated team who are also committed to actively support the improvement project. Improvement projects often fall when team members are unable to sustain interest or participation, leaving the team leader to carry the improvement work.
The role of the project team includes:
- Evaluating current communication and teamwork processes (for example; safety huddles, multidisciplinary team rounds)
- Identifying and enlisting clinical champions
- Establishing general goals
- Developing, implementing and evaluating improvement strategies
- Disseminating results and findings.
Once the project team has been established, it is important to make sure everyone is on the same page regarding the problem the improvement project is targeting and what is IN and OUT of SCOPE. Without a well-defined scope, improvement projects tend to grow beyond what is achievable, lose focus of the problem, and fail.
The CEC's Quality Improvement Data System (QIDS) provides users at all levels of an organisation with a single point of access to information and tools for the purpose of improving the safety and quality of health service delivery. QIDS transforms data from several sources into a unified platform with standardised and customisable analytic and improvement tools.
A shared space means that you and your team can communicate in one space about whatever improvement priority you're working towards.
For further information on Improvement Science methodology visit the CEC Academy.