Clinical / Method Note
Measuring Workflow Improvement
Measure the work your team accepts, including the effort needed to review it.
Sources checked
Purpose
A pilot should help your team decide whether a change improves a defined workflow. Agree the baseline before implementation, then assess delivery time alongside review effort and quality. IHI’s improvement method considers outcomes, process measures and possible side effects. IHI measurement guidance.
What Your Team Reviews
What work counts?
Define the unit of work, its starting point and the decision that makes it accepted. Include routine cases and exceptions, and record when the mix of work changes.
Where does the effort go?
Include preparation, execution, checking, correction and handoff. Keep one-time setup separate from recurring effort, and distinguish staff effort from elapsed waiting time.
What happens to quality?
Agree the discrepancies, rework and reviewer workload to track. Use consistent definitions for baseline and pilot observations, with missing observations and exclusions visible.
Outputs to Agree
A measurement brief, a baseline and pilot comparison, and a decision record explaining whether to refine, expand or stop. The readout should show the period, amount of work observed and relevant changes in context. Your workflow owner and acceptance lead review the result together.
Confirm the deliverables and acceptance responsibilities in the engagement scope.
Limits
A small pilot describes its observed scope. A before-and-after comparison alone cannot establish that automation caused a change. Published benefits from another organization do not become a forecast for your team.
Sources
- IHI: Establishing Measures
Official methodology page. The Clinical workflow measures above are a proposed application of its principles.
Your next step
Start with one workflow.
Agree what to measure and who will review the result before a pilot begins.
Discuss a Measurement Plan Explore the Clinical Approach