Interactive PDSA workbook Pilot version

Generic PDSA template

The blank cycle. Pick your own topic and run the same Plan-Do-Study-Act method on anything the practice wants to improve. Fill this in as you go. Your answers save automatically on this computer. Come back over weeks or months and pick up where you left off. Written so the practice manager can drive it.

AuthorMedius Global

CPD hoursUp to 9 (EA 3 + RP 3 + MO 3)

TimelineYour choice, typically 3 to 6 months

Last savednot yet

Before you start: how this workbook saves

Type into the dashed magenta boxes. Each one shows an example answer above it. If you are not sure what to write, say the same kind of thing about your own practice.
Your answers save by themselves as you type, on this computer, in this browser. Close the tab, come back next week, everything will still be here. Check the 'Last saved' date on the cover.
Use one computer for the whole cycle, usually the practice manager's. If someone else needs to add their part, click Save to file, email them the file, and they click Load from file on their computer. Then they save to file and send it back.
Click Save to file at the end of every session. It downloads a small file. Keep it in your practice records folder. It is your backup if this computer is cleaned, replaced or reset.
When the cycle is finished, click Print / Save as PDF and choose 'Save as PDF'. That PDF is what the GPs upload as evidence to the RACGP CPD portal, and what you keep for accreditation.

One caution: clearing the browser's history or cache can delete your saved answers. The Save to file backup protects you.

This workbook is a pilot. If something is confusing or does not work on your computer, tell us via the contact page so we can fix it.

Your progress

0 of 0 fields completed. This is a long activity. Do a section, close the tab, come back next week.

The four stages

PlanPick the problem. Decide what you will count and who does what.

DoRun the change. Hold the meetings. Record the numbers as you go.

StudyCompare the numbers across the weeks. Write down what you noticed.

ActKeep what worked. Drop what did not. Make the good changes permanent.

The shaded boxes explain what to write

This is the blank cycle, so there is no worked example to copy. Instead, each shaded box explains what belongs in the dashed magenta box below it. Pick your topic, then write your own practice's answers. If your cycle works well, tell us, because the guide library grows from what practices choose to fix.

The learning: where your educational hours come from

Three of the nine hours are educational activities (EA). Your team earns them by reading and discussing the evidence behind your chosen topic, then applying it during the cycle. Whatever the topic, build the reading into a practice meeting and log the time.

Choose a credible evidence source for your topic: a RACGP guideline, a therapeutic guideline, a college position statement or a peer-reviewed summary. Read it as a team at a practice meeting, agree what it means for your practice, and log the time as EA. The Model for Improvement (used by the RACGP and the IHI) is the method this template follows.

Read the background for this cycle

Resources you can share with the team

RACGP: quality improvement and the Model for Improvement
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) resources on PDSA cycles
RACGP guidelines for preventive activities in general practice (the red book)
Your PHN, for local data, benchmarking and QI support
A credible evidence source specific to the topic you have chosen
RACGP CPD guidance, on logging EA, RP and MO hours

For the practice manager

Email the chosen reading to every GP and nurse before the education meeting, so the reading is done by the time everyone sits down. The hours they spend reading and discussing it count toward EA, and this workbook records the rest.

Plan

Topic, idea and plan

Topic: what is this PDSA about?

What to write

Name the improvement in one line. Keep it specific and about something you can measure, for example a recall rate, a documentation standard, a safety step or a new service.

The idea you are testing

What to write

Explain what you are trying to accomplish and why it needs doing now. What is the current gap or problem, and what change do you think will improve it? This answers the first question in the Model for Improvement.

Plan: what you will do and what you will count

What to write

Describe the change you will make and how you will measure it. Who does what, over what period, and what numbers you will collect. Decide how you will know a change is an improvement, and keep the measures simple enough to gather each round.

Aims: what does success look like?

What to write

Set a SMART goal: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. State the target number or standard you are aiming for and the date by which you expect to reach it.

Meeting and measurement schedule

Map out your own milestones and type the dates in as each one happens. A common shape is a planning meeting, two or three measurement points, and a review meeting. These dates become part of the CPD evidence, so keep them accurate.

Milestone	Date
Planning meeting: agree the topic, measures and roles
Measurement point 1 (baseline)
Measurement point 2
Mid-cycle review meeting
Measurement point 3
Review meeting: discuss results with the team
RACGP portal upload (GPs log their hours)

Study

Data collection

Name your own measures in the left column, then enter the totals at each measurement point. Numbers only in the boxes (34, not '34 patients'). Keep to measures you can gather reliably each round. The change column works itself out.

What to write

Choose two to six measures that will show whether your change is an improvement. A tally sheet during consultations, a clinical software search or a manual count all work. Use the same method each round so the numbers are comparable.

What you are counting	Point 1	Point 2	Point 3	Change

What we learned

What to write

Compare the numbers across the points. What moved, what did not, and what surprised you? Note anything about how the data was collected that you would change next time.

Act

What to keep and make permanent

What to write

Decide what to keep, what to drop and what to make a permanent part of how the practice works. Name who owns each embedded change, and whether you will run another cycle to push further.

CPD hours

Count the hours each GP spent. Education meetings and reviewing the evidence for your topic count as EA. Auditing and reviewing your own performance counts as RP. Running the cycle and measuring the outcome counts as MO. The total adds up automatically. When in doubt, the GP lead decides what to claim.

Activity type	Hours	Evidence you already have
Educational activities (EA)		Practice meeting attendance and the reading you reviewed as a team
Reviewing performance (RP)		Your baseline audit and the data you collected each round
Measuring outcomes (MO)		This completed workbook, meeting dates, outcome numbers
Total	0	GPs submit as a GP-led activity via RACGP myCPD Home

In-house education is the easiest EA time to claim, and the easiest to forget

Reviewing the evidence for your topic as a team, at a practice meeting, is the most direct source of EA hours in any cycle. Log the time while you are there, because it is the part practices most often forget to claim.

Reflections (the GPs write these)

The RACGP asks each GP to reflect on three areas. Hand the computer to the GP lead for this bit, or collect a sentence or two from each GP at the follow-up meeting and type them in. There is no worked example here: these have to be your own.

Culturally safe practice Professional and health inequities Ethical practice

Participating doctors

One per line. This is for your records so nobody has to reconstruct it at portal-upload time.