The Model for Improvement in Healthcare
The Model for Improvement (MFI) is a pragmatic, team‑based framework for accelerating measurable, safe changes to clinical and administrative processes. It combines three guiding questions with rapid Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles to design, test and scale changes in real clinical settings.
Use it when you need to adapt or introduce a process and measure whether that change produces real improvement (RCEM QI Guide; NICE Into Practice).
Overview
- MFI asks three questions:
1. What are we trying to accomplish? 2. How will we know a change is an improvement? 3. What changes can we make that will lead to improvement?
- The PDSA cycle operationalises learning: plan a small test, do it, study the results, then act (adopt, adapt or abandon).
- Multiple short cycles build knowledge and reduce risk before wider rollout (RCEM QI Guide).
When to use MFI Use MFI when:
- You aim for a defined, measurable improvement in a process or outcome and need to test changes in situ.
- The change is complex or context‑sensitive (pathways, workflows, triage, sepsis screening, handover processes).
- A small, engaged group of frontline staff and managers can support iterative testing.
Avoid MFI when:
- The goal is only to measure current performance without intention to change (use clinical audit instead).