Approach 1. Who? What? When? How Much?
When starting an improvement project, teams often craft an aim. They decide what they want to improve, and:
- For whom? (e.g., patients with heart failure)
- By how much? (e.g., reduce ED visits related to pain by 50%, or reduce delays in communication with the physician office to 4 hours).
- By when? (by August 1)
Here is an example: By Labor Day, our agency will implement SBAR communications in every interaction with a provider or office practice. We will train 95% of our permanent staff, who will all be able to teach back SBAR and demonstrate when and how to use it.
Approach 2. Hopes, Dreams, and Aspirations
An alternative approach to writing an aim statement is to think about your real hopes, dreams and aspirations. A simple statement about these things can also motivate a team to get great results.
Here is an example: By the time school starts in the fall, we want our nurses to be such concise communicators when interacting with a provider or office practice that the other person does not feel their time was wasted, was glad to receive the vital information, and is willing to act on the nurse’s concern.
You choose! Either kind of aim statement helps gets your team moving on the right track to great results.
Jane Taylor, CHAMP Improvement Advisor
