Background Plan–do–study–act (PDSA) cycles provide a structure for iterative testing of changes to improve quality of systems. The method is widely accepted in healthcare improvement; however there is little overarching evaluation of how the method is applied. This paper proposes a theoretical framework for assessing the quality of application …

BMJ Quality & Safety (previously Quality & Safety in Health Care) is an international peer review publication providing research, opinions, debates and reviews for academics, clinicians and healthcare managers focused on the quality and safety of health care and the science of …

Background Healthcare systems are operating under substantial pressures. Clinicians and managers are constantly having to make adaptations, which are typically improvised, highly variable and not coordinated across teams. This study aimed to identify and describe the types of everyday pressures in intensive care and the adaptive strategies staff use to respond, with the longer-term aim of ...

Jun 1, 2001 · Teams make up the building blocks of health care and every team—from the executive to the coal face—is composed of different professionals, ideally possessing a variety of skills necessary to produce safe and effective care.1 We are constantly reminded of the value of diversity within teams, but the reality is that working together from a variety of perspectives is sometimes difficult to ...

Adaptable components harness practitioner agency and creativity. Hybrid interventions are uniquely comprised mechanisms of action from opposite ends of Greenhalgh and colleagues’ innovation theory spectrum.10 The fixed components are underpinned by a managerial mechanism of action (ie, specific, orderly, planned and make-it-happen). This is tested alongside a more social and emergent ...

Critical care workforce challenges. An experienced ICU workforce is a valuable resource. Staffing capacity, particularly for registered nurses, is the factor most likely to constrain the potential for an ICU to surge in capacity in response to demand.4 More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic illuminated the skills, knowledge and resources required to successfully treat critically ill …

Performance problems among healthcare professionals can have significant implications for patient safety. Estimates suggest approximately 6–12% of physicians experience performance issues,1 while about one in three healthcare professionals report encountering a poorly performing colleague within the past year.2 Performance problems can arise from individual-level causes including physical ...

The last 5 years have seen a rapid growth in research applying artificial intelligence or machine learning to improve the quality and safety of healthcare. This coincides with the release of web interfaces (such as ChatGPT from OpenAI and Copilot from Microsoft) that have enabled the general public (including health professionals and researchers) to easily access the latest generation of large ...

Jan 6, 2025 · Healthcare systems worldwide have for decades sought to prioritise prompt diagnosis of cancer as a means to improve outcomes. The gatekeeping role of general practitioners (GPs) that restricts access to testing and referral,1 along with their relatively lower propensity to use diagnostic tests,2 has been offered as partial explanations for the UK’s consistently poor performance in cancer ...

The COVID-19 pandemic shone a light on the work and needs of the healthcare workforce like never before, resulting in an increased focus of workforce well-being research, policy and within mainstream media. Despite this recent attention, the relevance of workforce well-being for healthcare delivery and efficiency is not a new phenomenon. The National Health Service (NHS) in England employs ...