Getting Started: Defining your Project
Getting Started: Defining your Project
Quality Improvement Project Charter
The project charter is an essential first step for any quality improvement project. The charter sets out the purpose, scope, measures and targets of success. It identifies who are the key members of the QI team. It specifies how much time and resources need to be invested in the project, and the potential payoff if successful. If a team can set a clear direction on each of these points at the outset, it will remain focused throughout the project and have the best chance to succeed.
What makes Quality Improvement Project Charters different from regular project charters? The key distinction is that a QI Project Charter should have embedded in it the Model for Improvement. Regular project charters often define the project as the implementation of a particular solution, or best practice from elsewhere. QI project charters define the project as the achievement of patient-focused results. The actual solutions are treated as hunches or theories of what might work, and these hunches and theories need to be tested out (see example below).
Changes: test different components of a variety of different self-management tools & see what combination works best for us.
A charter should have the following components:
Problem Definition
Why is quality a problem right now? Draw on any baseline data, either local, provincial, national or international to make this case.
Aims, Measures and Change Ideas
Answer the fundamental questions of the Model for Improvement, a simple but powerful tool for structuring any quality improvement project:
Your project needs to identify the following people:
The executive sponsor is the senior management person who ensures QI teams
get the support they need. The sponsor approves the allocation of QI team
members' time to participate in the project and any required budget for the
team's activities. Also, if there is a major barrier that the QI team
encounters during its work, the executive sponsor can go to bat for the
team, or help resolve conflicts with other leaders in the system. Depending
on the project, the sponsor can sit on the QI team, or simply be consulted
periodically.
The team leader keeps the team focused on its aims, ensures roles of team
members are clear and manages team conflicts and dynamics. He or she is the
lead spokesperson for the project and typically has power or influence over
where most of the changes are likely to occur.
The quality improvement expert has deep skills in quality improvement
science (e.g. writing charters, doing PDSA cycles, run charts, etc.). This
role could be fulfilled by a team member or outside facilitator.
Clinical & technical experts bring deep knowledge of a clinical process or
other technical details.
The physician champion helps sell the project to other physicians who may be
affected or benefit from the project. He or she can also act as a liaison
between physicians to hear both their concerns and ideas for improvement.
The project manager keeps track of the timelines, budgets, and schedules
meetings.
Other team members should include representatives of different providers who
participate in the delivery of the health care service of interest.
Consider both clinical and support staff, and those who understand
information or data flows. Inviting those who are skeptical but not
adamantly opposed to change can help teams anticipate potential failures.
We recommend that all QI teams have at least one to two patient
representatives. Try to keep the overall size of the QI team manageable
(e.g. 5 to 7, maximum 10).
Note that while all of the different functions above are necessary, some
individuals may wear multiple hats. The team leader may also be the project
manager; or physician champion. Design the team according to the available
skills and interests of participants.
Link to Strategy
Your project will more likely succeed if you can show that it links to the strategic priorities and mandate of your health care organization, or to the current priorities of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
Business Case
QI projects will get greater buy-in if they can demonstrate that successful completion may reduce waste, improve efficiency, or reduce expensive complications of diseases down the road.
Estimated Time Requirements
How much time needs to be protected for QI teams to do their work? Estimate the amount of protected team away from their other clinical duties that team members need for participating in the project.
Budget
Estimate cost of incidental expenses (e.g. travel allowances to get to meetings, meeting room costs and food, etc.).
To download the Quality Improvement Project Charter Worksheet click here.
- model for improvement
- quality improvement project charters
- project execution
Quality Improvement Project Charter
The project charter is an essential first step for any quality improvement project. The charter sets out the purpose, scope, measures and targets of success. It identifies who are the key members of the QI team. It specifies how much time and resources need to be invested in the project, and the potential payoff if successful. If a team can set a clear direction on each of these points at the outset, it will remain focused throughout the project and have the best chance to succeed.
What makes Quality Improvement Project Charters different from regular project charters? The key distinction is that a QI Project Charter should have embedded in it the Model for Improvement. Regular project charters often define the project as the implementation of a particular solution, or best practice from elsewhere. QI project charters define the project as the achievement of patient-focused results. The actual solutions are treated as hunches or theories of what might work, and these hunches and theories need to be tested out (see example below).
| Regular Project Charter | QI Project Charter |
| Purpose: Implement the Stanford Patient Self-Management Program in our region. Deliverable: policy and procedures manual written by committee and staff trained in use of tools. |
Aim: Improve diabetes management; increase % of patients with A1C<7 from 50% to 70% and use of recommended drugs from 60% to 80% over 12 months. Measures: %A1c<7, % appropriate drug use. Changes: test different components of a variety of different self-management tools & see what combination works best for us. |
Changes: test different components of a variety of different self-management tools & see what combination works best for us.
A charter should have the following components:
Problem Definition
Why is quality a problem right now? Draw on any baseline data, either local, provincial, national or international to make this case.
Aims, Measures and Change Ideas
Answer the fundamental questions of the Model for Improvement, a simple but powerful tool for structuring any quality improvement project:
- what are we trying to accomplish?
- how will we know a change is an improvement?
- what changes can we make that can result in an improvement?
Your project needs to identify the following people:
The executive sponsor is the senior management person who ensures QI teams
get the support they need. The sponsor approves the allocation of QI team
members' time to participate in the project and any required budget for the
team's activities. Also, if there is a major barrier that the QI team
encounters during its work, the executive sponsor can go to bat for the
team, or help resolve conflicts with other leaders in the system. Depending
on the project, the sponsor can sit on the QI team, or simply be consulted
periodically.
The team leader keeps the team focused on its aims, ensures roles of team
members are clear and manages team conflicts and dynamics. He or she is the
lead spokesperson for the project and typically has power or influence over
where most of the changes are likely to occur.
The quality improvement expert has deep skills in quality improvement
science (e.g. writing charters, doing PDSA cycles, run charts, etc.). This
role could be fulfilled by a team member or outside facilitator.
Clinical & technical experts bring deep knowledge of a clinical process or
other technical details.
The physician champion helps sell the project to other physicians who may be
affected or benefit from the project. He or she can also act as a liaison
between physicians to hear both their concerns and ideas for improvement.
The project manager keeps track of the timelines, budgets, and schedules
meetings.
Other team members should include representatives of different providers who
participate in the delivery of the health care service of interest.
Consider both clinical and support staff, and those who understand
information or data flows. Inviting those who are skeptical but not
adamantly opposed to change can help teams anticipate potential failures.
We recommend that all QI teams have at least one to two patient
representatives. Try to keep the overall size of the QI team manageable
(e.g. 5 to 7, maximum 10).
Note that while all of the different functions above are necessary, some
individuals may wear multiple hats. The team leader may also be the project
manager; or physician champion. Design the team according to the available
skills and interests of participants.
Link to Strategy
Your project will more likely succeed if you can show that it links to the strategic priorities and mandate of your health care organization, or to the current priorities of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
Business Case
QI projects will get greater buy-in if they can demonstrate that successful completion may reduce waste, improve efficiency, or reduce expensive complications of diseases down the road.
Estimated Time Requirements
How much time needs to be protected for QI teams to do their work? Estimate the amount of protected team away from their other clinical duties that team members need for participating in the project.
Budget
Estimate cost of incidental expenses (e.g. travel allowances to get to meetings, meeting room costs and food, etc.).
| QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROJECT CHARTER WORKSHEET | |
| Project Title: | |
| Team Leader: | Executive Sponsor: |
| Team Members: | |
| Name: | Position & Organization or Department |
| Patients/clients/family who will benefit: |
Types of clinical & administrative staff, suppliers, etc. involved: |
| Problem / Opportunity Statement (what’s wrong with quality?) | |
| Aim Statement (what are we trying to accomplish? Numerical target for improvement, over what time?) | |
| Measures (how will we know if we are improving? Outcome, process and balancing measures?) | |
| Change Ideas (what can we try that will result in an improvement?) | |
| Business Case (are health system costs reduced by addressing the problem?) | |
| Link to Strategy (corporate or Ontario Ministry of Health & LTC priorities)? | |
| Term of Project (start and stop dates): | Project budget: |
| Estimated time required for staff participation: | |
To download the Quality Improvement Project Charter Worksheet click here.
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