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At this point, you have an understanding of the problem you are trying to solve and why it is happening. Now you will begin to design and test change ideas to address these root causes. The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle is a way to test and adjust change ideas.

Key activities include:

• Identifying change ideas that address the root causes of the problem

• Carrying out a test by implementing the change idea on a small scale and collecting data to track improvement

• Analyzing results to determine whether the change idea resulted in improvement

• Determining if and how the change idea needs to be tweaked, and preparing for another cycle of testing

Tools and resources

• Change ideas and concepts guide
  Learn about the different types of change concepts and how to generate change ideas to address them.

• Driver diagram tool
  Document the goal of the QI project and identify primary drivers (change concepts) and secondary drivers (change ideas).

• PDSA tool
  Learn how to test and improve your change ideas by following the PDSA approach. Document your test plan, observations, analysis, and decision to continue to revise and evaluate your change ideas.