Tools to Identify Appropriate Problems to Solve – COVID‑19
The following tools can help stakeholders focus on the most pertinent problem(s) to solve.
Root Causes of Practice Challenges
The Fishbone diagram can help identify root causes of practice challenges
- A structured team process is used to identify causes of a health care problem
- Brainstorm sessions highlight possible causes of a problem and sort them into categories
- Output informs the development of an action plan to improve on challenges, care, and/or outcomes
Root Causes of Practice Challenges Document
Select resources include:
Defining potential challenges for COVID‑19
Surveying patients concerning prevention, vaccination, and treatment of COVID-19: Important to guide efforts to educate patients and provide care. See more education resources from CDC’s online print resources hub
- How:
- Disseminate a patient survey via one of the following channels: pre-telehealth visit, patient portal, telephone, or by mail
- Community leaders can work with health leaders to implement virtual town hall meetings to discuss key topics
- Appropriate Topics:
- Prevention: Wearing masks, social and physical distancing, and hand-washing (asses challenges, attitudes, beliefs and execution of these prevention practices)
- Vaccination: Ascertaining vaccination status, knowledge of how to get a vaccine, vaccine hesitancy
- Treatment: What to do if symptoms develop, when to call a doctor or report to an emergency department, patient education about treatment options
Issue and Cause Worksheet
The following table can be used to help stakeholders outline the specific problems to solve, as well as the respective causes surrounding them, which will eventually help inform solutions.
Workflow Analysis
The workflow analysis, or process mapping, can be a useful exercise to help the team find bottlenecks and opportunities to improve practice