Getting Started

If this is your first assessment plan, keep it simple! Focus on a limited number of areas that will yield high-value information. Plan to conduct a number of simple assessments, rather than trying to cover everything with one (possibly overwhelming) assessment.

Steps to Quality Improvement > Assessment > Writing an Assessment Plan

Once the QI team decides what to assess, the next step is to create a written plan to guide the assessment process. Creating a written plan facilitates assessment and gives the QI team an opportunity to identify gaps in the assessment plan before it is implemented.

When possible, a culturally diverse committee of individuals and departments within and outside the organization (e.g., providers, community representatives, patients, members) should be involved in creating and approving the plan. If possible, strengthen existing QI structure by increasing diversity rather than by establishing a parallel structure.

A comprehensive written assessment plan will answer the following questions.

• What is being assessed?
• Why is the assessment being done?
• How does the assessment support the organization’s goals and mission?
• When will the assessment occur?
• Who will conduct the assessment?
• Who will collect the data?
• What data will be collected?
• Who will analyze the results?
• How will the results be reported?
• Who will receive the results of the assessment?