What is the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle used for?

• A. A method to inventory medications.
• B. A framework for patient discharge planning.
• C. A quality improvement framework to test changes on a small scale and study outcomes before broader implementation.
• D. A tool for scheduling staff.

Answer: (C)

Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) is a quality improvement cycle used to test changes on a small scale and study outcomes before broader implementation. The idea is to try a specific change, observe what happens, and learn from the results before deciding whether to expand the change.

In practice, you plan the change and how you’ll measure its impact, implement it on a limited setting or run a short pilot, study the data to see if it produced the desired improvement (and note any unintended effects), and then act by adopting the change, refining it and re-testing, or discarding it and trying a new approach. This iterative, data-driven approach helps healthcare teams learn quickly, reduce risk, and spread successful improvements.

Example: test a new discharge checklist on one unit for two weeks, measure readmission rates and patient satisfaction, then decide whether to broaden the checklist.