Improving patient care

TLDR: The “Bicycle Process” can lead to significant improvements in patient care and warrants close inspection by all who render patient care.

Abstract: The “Bicycle Process” is a systematic approach that requires health care providers to establish their own minimal standards of patient care. Any performance below their minimally accepted level is called a performance deficit. Educational programs are instituted for each performance deficit after which their performance is remeasured. To be successful the process requires at least the cooperation of physicians, administrators, boards of trustees and medical record analysts. At one children's hospital attempting to institute the “Bicycle Process”, the staff created 54 standards of care for 3 commonly encountered conditions (meningitis, asthma and pneumonitis). Performance deficits were shown for 34 standards before and 29 standards after the educational programs. Of the 29 remaining deficits, 20 showed improvement, 6 worsened and 3 remained unchanged. Thus, the “Bicycle Process” can lead to significant improvements in patient care and warrants close inspection by all who render patient care.