A Primer on PDSA: Executing Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycles in Healthcare

This assignment is a narrative review from the BMJ Quality & Safety journal, focusing on the practical application of Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles in healthcare settings. The review uses a project to reduce unnecessary urinary catheters as an illustrative example, detailing eight PDSA cycles. The project aimed to address the overuse of urinary catheters, which leads to patient harms. The cycles involved confirming the problem, identifying contributing factors, and testing interventions such as modifying transfer forms and developing medical directives for nurses. The report emphasizes the importance of iterative refinement and data-driven decision-making within the PDSA framework, highlighting the benefits of efficient data use, identifying necessary intervention refinements, and increasing confidence in the change process. The project resulted in decreased catheter utilization without inappropriate removals, demonstrating the effectiveness of a systematic approach to quality improvement. The article emphasizes the importance of putting the PDSA methodology into practice, rather than just using it as a catchphrase.