The Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) achievements in advancing medicine through research are apparent, as its website is filled with peer-reviewed articles published by its research teams. Scientists are willing to share their process for establishing and achieving goals in their studies, yet extensive research requires extensive periods of tests. The IHI utilizes the Plan-Do-Study-Act methodology for trying out potential improvements to healthcare practice prior to spreading the information to other medical facilities (“Science of improvement,” n.d.). It is a challenging system to implement, yet the IHI has managed to produce responses to its researchers’ findings on the fly through small yet rapid cycles of tests (“Science of improvement,” n.d.). Reaching this level of efficiency is not a common practice among researchers, making the IHI’s method worthy of analysis.
The outline of the process makes the advanced technique easily discernable. Quality improvements (QIs) in healthcare are often based on a research organization’s culture and practices (McNicholas et al., 2019). The IHI uses methods for understanding and describing their research that makes the generated evidence usable in the shortest period. Repeated and constantly adapted PDSA cycles that remain within the research guidelines allow scientists to generate advancements for specific issues (Knudsen et al., 2019). However, the IHI has found a way to broaden the spectrum for evidence generated by these cycles. The studies are not confined to a single topic in medicine, as each research applies a multi-modal approach, covering both apparent and indirect possible influences on an issue (“Science of improvement,” n.d.). In conclusion, the IHI and its website provide a unique view on healthcare research that is conducted by its QI teams via PDSA cycles and improved over time in quick succession for public release.
References
Knudsen, S. V., Laursen, H. V., Johnsen, S. P., Bartels, P. D., Ehlers, L. H., & Mainz, J. (2019). Can quality improvement improve the quality of care? A systematic review of reported effects and methodological rigor in Plan-Do-Study-Act projects.BMC Health Services Research, 19(1).
McNicholas, C., Lennox, L., Woodcock, T., Bell, D., & Reed, J. E. (2019). Evolving quality improvement support strategies to improve plan–do–Study–Act cycle fidelity: A retrospective mixed-methods study. BMJ Quality & Safety, 28(5), 356-365.
Science of improvement. (n.d.). IHI – Institute for Healthcare Improvement.