Agile implementation, an eight-step model, focuses on selecting the best evidence-based solutions using feedback from participants. The model can be used to localize and apply change methodology. The participants consider three questions:
• What do we do that works well?
• What does not work well?
• What do we plan to do differently based on what we have learned?
Researchers tested the method at two urban hospitals. They found it helped lower central-line blood stream infections by 30 percent, as well as reduced rates of Clostridium difficile infection.
“We borrowed Agile Implementation from the world of software development and created a novel blueprint for change management in healthcare because we see a huge need for rapid implementation of evidence-based solutions to pressing problems in current healthcare delivery,” said Malaz Boustani, MD, senior author of the study, a scientist at Indianapolis-based Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University Center for Aging Research and founding director of the Center for Health Innovation and Implementation Science at Regenstrief Institute.
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