Walk-throughs enable providers to better understand the experience of care from the patient’s and family’s points of view-by going through the experience themselves. This tool is most useful in answering question 1 in the Model for Improvement (What are we trying to accomplish?).

Using the Walk-through tool has a variety of benefits:

• It provides first-hand knowledge of what it is like to be a patient in your organization.
• It builds the will and provides incentive for your organization to improve the process of providing care and enhancing the patient experience.
• It generates data that address the total experience of the patient, including direct observations as well as feelings such as frustration, fear, security, confidence, and confusion.
• It generates ideas for process improvement and innovation.

Used in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s "Methods and Tools for Breakthrough Improvement" course, the Walk-through tool has been used by hundreds of health care organizations.

Download the tool for complete instructions.