Process Improvement Toolbox

NIATx Smart Chart
The NIATx Smart Chart gives a quick overview of the NIATx model of process Improvement.

How to Perform a Walk-through
Conducting a walk-through from the perspective of both a client and family member will help you to recognize ways to improve the processes your agency uses to provide access to and retention in treatment.

How to Use the Nominal Group Technique
Learn how to use the Nominal Group Technique as a tool for small group decision making.

Test Changes: How to Conduct a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) Cycle
After conducting a walk-through to identify a process that needs improvement, your organization can conduct a Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycle to pilot-test changes.

How to Flowchart
Developing flowcharts will allow organizations to map a process, identify process bottlenecks and/or errors, or describe new and/or existing processes.

How to Tell a Story
Learn more about how to communicate and tell your process improvement story.

How to Collect Data
Measuring the impact of change is an important aspect of successful organizational improvement. Click here to learn six steps that will guide your agency in the timely and accurate measurement of change.

How to Establish a Change Team
Learn more about the role of change teams in process improvement.

Visual Modeling Tools
Learn more about visual modeling tools that facilitate good problem analysis, idea generation, and solution implementation.

Creativity and Design
We are often asked to think creatively during brainstorming meetings, but most of us find it difficult to come up with innovative ideas on the spot. With this as a backdrop, this tool seeks to answer two questions: (1) How do we teach ourselves to think creatively? (2) How do we know if our solutions are well designed?

Sustainability Model
The Sustainability Predictor, a collaboration between the British National Health Service and the University of Wisconsin, helps find your project's strength and weaknesses, and numerically estimate the chances for project success.

Getting Things Done
Many process improvement projects drag on for months because of poor execution. The world of sports can teach us a lot about how to translate ideas into action and how to get things done.

Essential Team Behaviors
Cultivating certain values and behaviors can strengthen the team's ability to sustain the gains from process improvements and reduce problems brought about by high employee turnover.

Using Metaphors to Explore Continuous Improvement
Metaphors can be powerful tools for learning and communication, and can be used to explore tough, recurring questions as organizations adopt, nurture, and spread a culture of continuous process improvement.

The Improvement Cafe
At "The Improvement Café," a breakout session at the Sixth NIATx Learning Session held in Orlando, Florida this May, participants looked at the four NIATx aims through the lens of the restaurant industry. The result? Led by process improvement coaches Tommie Ann Bower (Gosnold, Inc.) and Don Holloway, the group brainstormed a catalog of creative strategies for rapid-cycle testing.

Technical Assistance Reports
Technical Assistance Reports feature short reports structured around key process improvement topics. Each report provides introductory tools and guidance, poses key questions, and highlights provider and payer experiences that demonstrate effective application of methods to improve service delivery.

Recursos en Español
Esta pagina le ofrece las herramientas de NIATx mas populares – en español