Same Goal, Different Achievement: How to Measure Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Value Before You Claim Success

Reaching a project target does not show how well the project was run. This evidence-informed perspective argues that healthcare improvement projects should be judged on three dimensions: effectiveness (did we achieve the intended result), efficiency (what time, effort and money it took) and value (whether the result was worth its cost). It proposes six questions for choosing an improvement methodology (Lean, Six Sigma, the Model for Improvement with PDSA cycles, or root cause analysis) according to the type of problem, and it shows practical formulas with worked examples for calculating each dimension, together with outcome, process and balancing measures.