With public health organizations prioritizing quality improvement (QI) – both for accreditation readiness and for the overall success of organizational objectives – it is no surprise that Kaizen (Japanese for “change for the better”) has become a popular approach. There are many ways to conduct a Kaizen process improvement event. Public Health Foundation (PHF) experts have used a Rapid Cycle Kaizen approach for many years to engage cross-functional teams to respond over a brief time frame to situations in which:

1. The need for a solution is urgent 
2. The impact of the failing process is significant
3. Willingness to change is apparent

• Clean Sheet Process Redesign – Empowers a team to act when a process requires a radical change
• Mistake Proofing – Helps to prevent errors in a process
• PICK Chart – Enables a team to organize ideas and prioritize decisions to achieve consensus
• Process Value Analysis – Assigns each step in a process a value as a ratio of function:cost
• SCAMPER Technique – Helps a team generate many ideas for improvement