QI Learning Center: Utilizing a QI Newspaper

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• Last Updated on Wednesday, 15 July 2015 21:59

 

By: Deborah Smith, Regional Social Work Consultant, Women’s Health Branch, NC Division of Public Health

When I was initially introduced to Quality Improvement (QI), I was quite certain that it was a “get rich quick scheme” or the buzzword of the month that would quickly fade into history.  I was certain this “QI Kool-Aid” that was spreading like wildfire through my employer was definitely poison, and I was not going to fall ill to such nonsense.  Fortunately, although skeptical, I opened my mind to the idea that QI may be a beneficial practice.  As it turns out, I not only drank the QI Kool-Aid, but I have been handing out pitchers of it to all who will listen, and even those who will not!

Throughout my skepticism, I learned about the various QI tools that would assist with fostering and promoting change.  In general, I came to love a majority of the tools, but none piqued my interest quite like the QI Newspaper.  For all of those Type A personalities who love a to-do list and feel a great sense of accomplishment when you cross items off that list, this is the tool for you!  I quickly became the “master” of this tool within my QI team, introduced it to several of my colleagues to track projects and I may have even made a “honey do list” out of it for my dear husband. 

What exactly is a “QI Newspaper” anyway?  Don’t let the name fool you, a QI Newspaper is essentially a timeline and to-do list all in one!  The Newspaper allows your entire team to have an understanding of what action is being tracked, what needs to occur, who is responsible for those actions, their due date, completion percentage (shown as a pie graph), and then a status summary (see snapshot below).  The percentages will automatically fill in the pie graph, and there is no greater satisfaction than seeing a big, black circle indicating that portion of the project is complete!  While utilizing the Newspaper, just as QI experts would encourage, I learned that I could adapt it to meet my needs.  For instance, the Resolution/Status column is a great area to document next steps for the action, especially if there is only a small percentage completed and you may need a reminder of next steps to ensure that component of the action item is completed by the due date. 

 

There are several benefits of the QI Newspaper, especially when you are collaborating as a team on a project.  Since the document is electronic, your team can email it to one another or save it to a central location such as a shared drive.  Since the document clearly lays out who is responsible for assignments, utilizing the newspaper should minimize potential confusion among team members as to who was going to complete what to make your project a success.  Finally, how often have you been in a meeting and nobody can remember when an assignment was due?  The QI Newspaper can solve that problem, too!  These are only a few benefits that I noted immediately upon using the newspaper.  You can only reap the benefits of the QI Newspaper if you use it! 

To get a copy, or for other useful QI tools, visit the QI Step by Step Guide.