Turn a focused service question into shared learning

For care teams and support roles testing a bounded improvement across a care workflow.

This fictional example follows Harborview Care Network, where a cross-role team is examining how handoff notes are completed. The collaborative supports improvement experiments; it is not an accreditation evidence collection site.

Colleagues around a whiteboard covered in sticky notes
Define a problem and aim

Choose the next cycle step

Each page contains a worked example for the same fictional coordination workflow.

Define the problem and aim

Describe the observable gap, bound the workflow, and state the intended improvement.
Set an aim

Plan a small test

Specify a limited test, its roles, observation approach, and review point.
Plan a test

Define measures

Make each number interpretable with a unit, denominator, time period, source, and as-of date.
Read measure definitions

Review learning

Separate what was observed from what the team thinks it means.
Structure a review

Decide whether to spread

Consider context and evidence before repeating, adapting, sharing, or stopping.
Compare next decisions

How the collaborative works

Keep the experiment useful and bounded

A worked coordination example from Harborview Care Network.

Worked example
Keep the question narrower than the whole service

A team noticed that handoff notes were sometimes missing a clearly identified next owner. Rather than redesign every handoff, it focused on one weekly coordination meeting and a short note used after that meeting.

  • The facilitator records the agreed next owner in the shared note.
  • A second team member checks whether that field is present in the sampled notes.
  • The team records exceptions without adding patient-identifying details to this example.
Role-based handoff
Bring the right role into the right question

The improvement lead coordinates the cycle; the workflow owner explains local practice; a measurement partner checks definitions. Questions involving regulated, safety-critical, or sensitive work go to the relevant trained role and approved local material.

  • Record who owns each cycle decision.
  • Route policy or clinical-practice questions to the accountable local role.
  • Do not treat this example as authorization to change a care procedure.