Southwest Telehealth Resource Center Blog

In hopes of sparking renewed commitment to applying improvement science to telehealth, we offer this Telehealth QI and QA Miniseries. Today is the second in the series.

Many people are confused about plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles, and I am here to set everyone straight! Dr. Don Berwick has called the PDSA the heart of the Model for Improvement. However, after many years of helping health care organizations build skill around PDSAs, it seems to be a tough nut to crack, despite its being at core of why humans are such a successful species. The more PDSAs and the faster you do PDSAs, the faster your learning and progress with improvement will be. Here are a few pointers.

How much do you love improvement science? I have been an improvement science evangelist and guru since 2007. That was the year I completed advanced training in health care improvement with Dr. Brent James at Intermountain Healthcare in Utah.

I was a practicing clinician, clinical manager, quality coordinator, practice transformation lead, IT support (and more) at a family medicine residency that was participating in the Safety Net Medical Home Initiative. Learning the power of data and the science of improvement was one of the biggest light bulb moments of my life. I often liken it to when Johnny 5 – the robot in “Short Circuit” – throws open the barn doors, seeing the outside for the first time and remarks, “Ahh – input!”. Suddenly I could ask and answer questions, using data and measurement.

Telehealth services depend on quality broadband network communications. Recent legislation, executive orders, and agency funding commitments and grants are set to make a significant impact in terms of expanding and improving telehealth services and broadband availability and reliability in the southwest region and nationally.

At this time of year, I feel it is important to take the time and reflect on what makes us happy, and what we are you thankful for. I am truly thankful for my family and friends. I am also thankful to be working in telehealth with the Southwest Telehealth Resource Center. Through telehealth I’ve met some amazing people and I’ve reached out to some of them and asked them to help celebrate this season of Thanksgiving by sharing what they are thankful for. Hopefully their thoughts will inspire some of you and maybe even make you smile. All of us at SWTRC wish you and yours a wonderful thanksgiving holiday!

Telehealth has many benefits including reduced, or eliminated travel and wait times; decreased exposure to communicative diseases; easier access to healthcare professionals and therapeutic interventions; and greater flexibility. However, for many individuals with disabilities, Telehealth and it's associated benefits may be out of reach due to web inaccessibility. Benefits can become barriers because of websites’ inconsistent compatibility with screen readers, closed captions, magnifiers, speech to text software (used by individuals with limited dexterity), easy to understand instructions and hyperlinks (for individuals with cognitive disabilities), and alternative text formats.