How-To Guide: Data Collection
"It's critical to start a project by identifying a comprehensive set of measures and planning how the data will be collected."— Eric Tom LMP program manager and management co-lead (Hawaii)
At Kaiser Permanente, the patient is at the center of all decision making, and metrics can help us see at a glance the impact—positive or negative—that a team's decisions have had on a patient. The key to good metrics is finding the few, vital pieces of information that help us understand that impact.
“The purpose of measurement in quality improvement work is for learning, not judgment,” says Bob Lloyd, the executive director of performance improvement at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, an independent nonprofit in Massachusetts.
Use the tools and articles in this how-to guide to help your team record and track data—and understand at a glance how its tests of change are working.