How do you set an aim for quality improvement in healthcare?
Let me give you a non-healthcare example first.
Say, I decide one day that I need to eat more fruits and vegetables.
My vegetable intake consists of four bags of fries a week.
I remember reading somewhere that I need to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day to be healthy.
What is most likely to help me reach the same?
How many more fruits and vegetables do I really think it is possible for me to eat?
Do I want to achieve this aim by tomorrow or next year?
And by the way, what exactly is the definition of a vegetable?
How do I basically make a shift in my lunch habits from this to this?
Should my aim statement read, I will eat more fruits and vegetables?
An aim statement for quality improvement is a statement that clearly describes what you will improve and how you will measure your improvement.
This originally comes from Peter Drucker, a really smart guy who wrote a book called The Practice of Management.
There are many variations of the smart acronym.
Here is a common one.
Your aim should be specific, that is it should clearly and concisely say what exactly you want to achieve.
It should be measurable so that you can objectively evaluate if or how well you have achieved the same.
It should be achievable, that is your aim should be feasible given your context and resources.
Your aim is realistic when you recognize factors beyond your control and you can reach your aim with available resources.
Your aim should also be time bound.
Make sure that you set a realistic deadline or time frame for achieving your aim.
So now that you know all about setting smart aims, let's get back to the fruit and vegetable example.
Which aim statement do you think is smarter?
Eat more fruits and vegetables or eat one fruit or vegetable fries not applicable with breakfast, lunch and dinner at least 5 days a week starting next Tuesday.
This aim statement is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound.
Here is an aim statement from a local quality improvement project done by a clinic that wants to improve care for children with asthma.
The statement says, in 6 months 90% of patients in our clinic with a diagnosis of persistent asthma will have a current asthma action plan.
So is this aim statement smart? It is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound.
So I would say that it is.
So remember to be smart when planning your quality improvement work.
Make sure that your aim statement is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound.
