Summary:
Plan a Small Pilot
In Episode 10 of the “Building Better Workflows” podcast, Dr. Lia discusses the essentials of pilot implementation in healthcare settings, focusing on the example of substance use screening. She advises starting small, suggesting a pilot with just one or two providers, and emphasizes the importance of setting SMART goals—specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely objectives. Dr. Lia outlines the use of the PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act) as a framework to guide the implementation and refine the process based on ongoing evaluation. She highlights that early adopters among the providers should be the first participants due to their flexibility and openness to adapting new practices.
Critical to the pilot’s success is comprehensive staff training in healthcare to ensure everyone involved understands and supports the changes. Regular data collection and review meetings are essential to gauge progress. Dr. Lia also stresses the value of patient feedback in healthcare, suggesting that insights from both staff and patients are crucial to assessing the effectiveness of the substance use screening and its impact on patient care. The results from the pilot could lead to broader implementation across the practice if found successful. She concludes by inviting listeners to engage in a discovery call to further discuss deployment strategies, directing them to further resources on the pediatric meltdown.com website.
Bullet points of key topics
- Dr. Lia discusses the strategies for conducting a small pilot to implement substance use screening using the PDCA cycle.
- Emphasizes the importance of using data, staff and clinician feedback to assess the pilot’s effectiveness.
- She introduces the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle to track and tweak the implementation process.
