Coaching Guide

Coaching for quality
improvement
Point of Care Quality Improvement
Coaching Guide
Acknowledgement
The POCQI Coaching Guide is a capacity building tool to accompany the “Point of Care Quality
Improvement” (POCQI) training manuals for improving the quality of care for mothers and newborns
in health facilities.
This guide has been prepared jointly by the South-East Asia Regional Office of World Health
Organization (WHO SEARO), WHO Collaborating Center for Training and Research in Newborn
Care, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi and the USAID Applying Science to
Strengthen and Improve Systems (ASSIST) Project.
The main contribution to developing the package is from Ashok Deorari (AIIMS, New Delhi),
Rajesh Mehta (WHO SEARO), Sonali Vaid and Nigel Livesley (URC). Assistance is acknowledged from
Praveen K. Sharma, Ankur Sooden, Mahtab Singh, Parika Pahwa and Anjali Vaishnav (URC)1 for their
contribution to the first draft of the case study. We also acknowledge the following for their inputs to the
package Aparna Sharma, Levis Murray, Meena Joshi, Seema Singhal, Anu Sachdeva (AIIMS, New Delhi),
Suman Rao (St. Johns Medical College, Bangalore), Deepak Chawla (Government Medical College,
Chandigarh) and Asim Mallick (NRS Medical College, Kolkata).
Collaboration from partner agencies UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia (ROSA) and East Asia
and Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO), UNFPA Asia and the Pacific Regional Office (APRO) and
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in promoting quality of care in the Region
and development of the POCQI package is greatly appreciated.
This coaching guide has been field tested in India (New Delhi and Himachal Pradesh). The opportunity
to field test the package and inputs received from participants and facilitators are gratefully acknowledged.
1
Nigel Livesley, Sonali Vaid, Praveen K. Sharma, Ankur Sooden, Mahtab Singh, Parika Pahwa and Anjali Vaishnav work for University Research
Co., LLC (URC) under the USAID ASSIST Project, which is funded by the American people through USAID’s Bureau for Global Health,
Office of Health Systems. The project is managed by URC under the terms of Cooperative Agreement Number AID-OAA-A-12-00101. URC's
global partners for ASSIST include: EnCompass LLC; FHI 360; Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health; HEALTHQUAL International;
Initiatives Inc.; Institute for Healthcare Improvement; Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs; and WI-HER, LLC.
Table of contents
Introduction to this guide 1

How to use this guide 2
Section 1 – Introduction: Coaching for quality improvement 3
Introduction: Coaching for quality improvement 4
What is coaching? 4
What are the key skills required for coaching? 4
How does coaching differ from monitoring or supervision? 5
Who should be a coach? 5
What does a quality improvement coach do? 5
What are the principles of coaching? 6
How should a coach build teams’ QI technical skills? 7
Prioritizing problems and choosing good aims 8
Working effectively in teams 8
Understanding data 8
Analyzing problems to find root causes and developing effective change ideas 9
Testing and adapting changes 10
Sustaining improvement 10
What are the components of a good coaching plan? 11
How to build coaching skills? 13
What support do coaches need? 14
Section 2 – Part A: Participant worksheet – Case scenarios for coaching 15
Case scenarios for coaching 16
Participant worksheet 17
Case scenario: Part 1 17
Discussion 1.1 17
Discussion 1.2 17
Discussion 2.1 18
Discussion 2.2 18
Discussion 3.1 19
Discussion 3.2 19
Discussion 4 20
Discussion 5 20
Discussion 6.1 21
Discussion 6.2 21
Discussion 7 22
Discussion 8 22
Discussion 9 23
Section 2 – Part B: Facilitator guide – Case scenarios for coaching 25
Case scenarios for coaching 26
Discussion 1.1 26
Learning points (Discussion 1.1) 26
Discussion 1.2 27
Discussion 2.1 28
Discussion 2.2 29
Discussion 3.1 30
Discussion 3.2 30
Discussion 4 31
Learning points (Discussion 4) 31
Discussion 5 32
Discussion 6.1 32
Discussion 6.2 33
Discussion 7 34
Discussion 8 35
Discussion 9 36
Annexes 39
Annex 1: Coaching visit outline for supporting new teams 40
Annex 2: Coach self evaluation proforma 42
Coaching for quality improvement
Coaching guide
Introduction to this guide
Initial training on quality improvement (QI) approaches is important for people to learn the principles
of QI. Some healthcare workers or teams are able to take what they learned from a classroom QI training
and apply it to real-world problems in their facilities on their own. But most teams need additional
ongoing support.
QI coaching is an important method to provide ongoing support to help healthcare workers and teams to
apply QI approaches in their setting.
QI coaching requires three key skill sets. First, the QI coach should have a good understanding of QI
methodology and how to apply it practically. Second, the QI coach should possess communication and
facilitation skills to help people learn to apply these methods in their own setting. Third the coach should
be able to organize and plan their work of supporting QI teams. Many people who become quality
improvement coaches have themselves received QI training, undertaken QI projects and have acquired
deeper knowledge of the theory and practice of QI.
This package has been developed as a primer to meet the initial The skills required for coaching
practical needs of coaches. This is not a comprehensive resource an external team are different
for learning all the skills and knowledge needed by coaches. People from that the ones needed for
mostly learn to become good QI coaches as they undertake coaching doing one’s own QI project
of more and more QI teams. Getting better at coaching and QI is a
lifelong pursuit and encompasses a wide array of knowledge and skills
that is not possible to cover in this training package.
We hope that this Coaching Guide will equip QI practitioners and trainers to become QI coaches who
can help new QI teams in managing some common challenges they face.
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Coaching guide
How to use this guide
This POCQI Coaching Guide consists of two sections:
Section 1 – Introduction: Coaching for quality improvement

This section explains the role of coaching in helping healthcare teams apply QI approaches, defines the
skills and attitudes of a good QI coach, and outlines components required for a coach to provide support
to a QI team (the coaching plan).
Section 2 – Case scenarios: Coaching for quality improvement

This section contains a case study exercise that describes some of the different steps that a QI team in a
health facility might go through. It introduces common challenges that a new team may face. The training
participant plays the role of the coach and is asked to help the team deal with these challenges.
Section 2 is divided into two parts:

 Part A is the “Participant Worksheet” in which the participants write their responses to the questions
related to each case scenario of the coaching case study
 Part B is the “Facilitator Guide” that has ‘learning points’ to be used by the facilitators to explain the
case scenarios and discuss the responses of the participants.
There are two ways of doing this exercise: a) workshop format and b) self-study format.
a) Workshop format - We recommend that the case scenario exercise be done in a small group workshop
format with potential or newly inducted coaches as participants. Experienced QI experts (someone
who has provided coaching support to multiple new QI teams) are required as facilitators for this
workshop. The recommended ratio is one facilitator for a group of 6-9 participants. Such a workshop
usually takes about two hours. The facilitators use the Facilitator Guide and participants use the
Participant Worksheet.
b) Self-study format – The case scenario exercises can also be used as a self-study document. For self-
study users, we recommend that the user first go through the case scenario and write down the possible
actions he or she will take in the Participant Worksheet. Only after completing the worksheet, they
may consult the Facilitator Guide for the learning points provided for actions related to each case
scenario discussion.
We hope that this Coaching Guide for QI will provide new and potential coaches with the confidence in
providing coaching to healthcare teams newly trained in point of care quality improvement (POCQI).
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Coaching guide
SECTION 1
Introduction:
Coaching for quality
improvement
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Coaching guide
Introduction: Coaching for quality improvement
What is coaching?
Coaching is regular hands-on support to motivate and help teams of healthcare workers to improve
quality of care at the health facility. QI coaches help facility teams to identify and solve problems in
conducting and sustaining QI projects. Regular coaching is important for maintaining momentum in
improving quality of care.
Any system – a hospital, a district, a state/province/region or a country – that wants to improve the
quality of care in a sustainable and effective manner should consider providing coaching support to
facility-level QI teams. Adequate support should be provided to coaches for their work (e.g., time and
transportation to visit the teams they coach) and opportunities to upgrade their coaching skills.
What are the key skills required for coaching?

Coaching requires a broad set of skills adapted to the needs of a specific facility/QI team. Each coach will
have a unique style, but all coaches apply the same basic principles to help develop the QI skills of the
hospital teams and guide them to improve care more effectively.
Most important is that the coaches need to work with external teams – in other departments or facilities
where they do not work themselves. Guiding people in a setting which is new/unfamiliar is different than
doing one’s own QI project in a setting which one knows intimately. Coaching usually involves a long
term relationship with QI teams.
The key categories of skills required by coaches include:
1. Strong technical skills in the art and science of QI. Having strong QI knowledge, experience and
skills is a prerequisite in a QI coach. Coaches should know when to introduce new and advanced
QI concepts to the teams. Concepts need to be presented in a simple format in a manner that is
appropriate to the facility where the project is being planned. To be contextual and relevant are the
biggest assets of a QI coach.
2. Good interpersonal skills. Coaches need to have effective communication skills, including listening
to people. To be effective QI coaches, they should be passionate about QI, possess attributes like
helpfulness and empathy, and able to encourage and motivate teams. QI coach should also be able to
act as a facilitator by providing opportunities to the QI team to connect with other QI teams, present
their work to peers and superiors, and create an improvement culture in the health facility.
3. Ability to develop and carry out a coaching plan. A coaching plan includes the details about how
a coach is going to carry out the work with one or multiple QI teams. He/she needs to plan how to
remain connected with the teams – such as arranging the logistics for coaching visits or maintaining
regular communication through virtual means. The coach also needs to keep track of data and progress
of multiple QI teams and be able to organize sharing of learning among QI teams.
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Coaching guide
How does coaching differ from monitoring or supervision?

Many health systems use monitors or supervisors as a way of periodically measuring and supporting
quality of care. While both coaching and monitoring approaches use external personnel, they are very
different. The table below highlights some of the differences between monitoring and coaching.
Monitoring or supervision Coaching

The supervisor is often in a position of authority The coach often does not have formal authority
over the facility staff. over the facility staff, works with staff and needs to
earn their trust and respect.
The supervisor assesses a wide range of areas (for The coach helps the facility staff focus on specific
example by using a facility assessment checklist) in areas of clinical care and parameters of quality of
the health facility at the same time. care.
The supervisor identifies quality gaps and the staff The coach encourages problem solving and guides
are required to fix these. the facility staff as they try to improve care using
QI approaches.
Who should be a coach?

An ideal QI coach is someone who has a good understanding of the science of improving care, has
practiced QI himself/herself, has good interpersonal, communication skills and can advocate for the teams
he or she is supporting. Some familiarity with the area of clinical care that is being improved, such as
maternal, newborn and child health, is useful.
Experience in improving care in one’s own unit/department is useful, but is not enough to become
a good coach. A coach must be able to go to a new facility, team and even a different technical area
(since the principles of QI are applicable to all areas of care) and be able to guide teams in using quality
improvement methods to deliver better care.
In the POCQI approach, the QI coaches would be people who have been trained in POCQI, have
undertaken multiple QI projects, have facilitated POCQI trainings and have been trained in coaching
principles like in this coaching guide.
QI Coaches can be from several places of work:
1. Staff with quality improvement experience from the same facility
2. Medical college faculty with experience in improvement
3. Staff from elsewhere in the health system, such as from the district staff
4. External technical personnel from partner organizations
What does a quality improvement coach do?

The coach develops and nurtures a relationship with the QI teams in health facilities based on trust and
support. The coach observes the QI work of the team and their situation; and provides ongoing guidance,
support and encouragement. Over time, the coach facilitates increasing independence among hospital
teams, thus transitioning QI programmes from requiring external guidance to being internally driven and
self-sustained. Coaches typically work with multiple QI teams at the same or different health facilities.
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Coaching guide
The QI coaches undertake several activities:

1. Help healthcare teams build their skills in improving care. Attending one training in QI (e.g.,
POCQI training) is not enough to become an expert. The coach helps staff build their skills as they
practice QI at their place of work and gain more experience. With ongoing coaching, health workers
are able to use QI approaches to get results.
2. Help the QI teams to involve leadership at their place of work. The frontline workers of the team
need to update leaders on the progress of the QI projects and request help for problems beyond the
staff ’s control. The coach should help the team keep leadership informed about what is going on and
how they can support the programme.
3. Identify QI teams / sites which are doing well and help them document how they achieved progress
and share this learning with other sites. The coach needs to infuse a spirit of achievement after a
successfully completed project. The coach should provide a platform for teams to share their QI
journey as a success story.
4. Identify QI teams / sites which are struggling and provide them with more support and help them
think of other ways to address their challenges.
5. Share learning between facilities. Since coaches work with multiple QI teams they have access to
successful examples of QI and can inform other QI teams that may find these solutions useful for their
own settings.
6. Document learning from multiple QI teams around what has worked and what has not worked to
improve quality of care.
7. Ensure proper data flow. The coach promotes the data sharing process followed in the health system
(e.g., in a district or state) and works with QI teams to report such data in a timely manner.
What are the principles of coaching?

Coaches usually do not have a position of authority, so the teams they support do not have any
compulsion to work with them. The coach has to earn the confidence of the teams. Because of this, the
principles of coaching are related to building trust, encouraging health worker autonomy and mastery,
focusing on results, and learning.
Principles of coaching Attitudes or actions to demonstrate these principles

Build trust • Be nice to QI teams
• Be patient and kind when the team makes mistakes
• Clearly communicate your willingness to provide support to them
• Look for, acknowledge and appreciate the team’s successes
• Be discreet – do not share information the team is uncomfortable in
sharing with others
Encourage health • Express confidence in the team’s ability to improve care
worker autonomy and
• Be humble – don’t try to show off your knowledge or fix problems for
mastery teams
• Encourage self-learning among QI teams – support them to try their own
ideas, introduce new QI ideas as they need them
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Coaching guide
Principles of coaching Attitudes or actions to demonstrate these principles

Focus on results • Keep the team focused on the big picture – saving lives, reducing harm,
improving the patient experience
• Encourage teams to measure outcome data
Focus on learning • Listen first. Ask clarifying questions.
• Don’t offer solutions unless the team is stuck. Help them build their own
skills and confidence to fix problems.
• Encourage the team to use more advanced QI skills once they master
easier ones.
How should a coach build teams’ QI technical skills?

People learn different QI skills at different rates. Some QI skills typically take longer to learn than others.
The coach should not try to teach everything at the start. Instead, she should start by helping people to
learn the easier skills first, and build their confidence in applying these skills to solve real problems. As
people become comfortable with the easier skills, the coach should help them to build new skills to allow
them to address increasingly complex problems.
It requires judgment to know when people are ready to learn more advanced skills. The table below
outlines some of the skills that new teams usually pick up quickly and some which often take some time
and experience for people to understand completely.
Some important QI skills for a coach to focus on with QI teams are listed in the table below. The coach
should initially focus on the skills that are under the ‘new QI team’ column. Many problems are fixable
just using these skills. As teams’ progress and start working on more complex problems, the coach should
help them use the skills in the ‘more experienced QI team’ column.
QI skill New QI team More experienced QI team

Prioritizing Pick problems that are: Move on to more complex problems
problems and which may:
• under the control of the team
choosing good
• need to involve team members from
aims • easy to measure objectively
other units
• will not take too much additional
• be more challenging to measure
time or resources to fix
• take longer to fix
• important for all those who are
involved Help them focus on solving issues that
lead to better outcomes of care as well as
processes
Working effectively Form a multi-disciplinary team Get more involvement and leadership
in teams involving representatives from all from more junior members of the team
categories of staff whose work will (who often know the most about what is
need to change to reach the aim actually happening)
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Coaching guide
QI skill New QI team More experienced QI team

Analyzing Use basic QI analysis tools – fishbone Focus on identifying root causes related to
problems to find diagram, 5 Whys, Pareto principle, ‘place’ and ‘procedure’ rather than ‘people’
root causes flowchart and ‘policy’
Developing • Define simple indicators related • Simplify data collection
Indicators and to the aim
• Understanding various types of
measurement plan • Identify simple ways to collect the measures process, outcome and
required data balancing measures
Understanding • Use data to know if there is • Use and interpret run charts or control
data improvement. charts
• Use MSExcel or other software to
collect and display data.
• Plot data over time.
Developing change • Come up with simple doable • Look for change ideas that move
ideas ideas to reach the aim beyond training or issuing orders
Testing and • Test change ideas to see if they • Try more ambitious ideas focusing on
adapting changes work using smaller tests to adapt changes
Sustaining • Based on the successful change, • Focus on changing systems to make
improvement prepare standard operating improvements sustainable.
procedures (SOPs) or policies to
sustain improvements
Prioritizing problems and choosing good aims

New teams sometimes want to choose their worst or most complicated problem to solve. It is best to try
to move new teams away from overly ambitious problems and help them pick problems that are going
to be relatively easier to fix as their first project. This will allow them to use all the QI skills, will build
confidence, and prepare them to tackle more complex problems.
Working effectively in teams

Most people see early on the value of forming multi-disciplinary teams that involve the people who are
involved in the work. But the formation of a multi-disciplinary team, on its own, does not break down
long-standing medical hierarchies immediately. Teams often need to learn how to organize meetings and
communication so that junior team members feel free to give their ideas. Without this information,
team leaders will often try to solve problems without understanding the real challenges faced by the people
doing the work. Coaches play a very important role in modeling that they value the input and suggestions
of the junior staff. Coaches should strive to help the team to work so that anyone with information or
good ideas is able to share their input. Coaches can individually seek the opinion of the quieter members
of the team so as to encourage a culture of openness.
Understanding data
New teams often need some initial support in their own context in setting up data collection methods and
in displaying data over time, but usually learn these skills fairly quickly. Most teams will need additional
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Coaching guide
support in simplifying data collection and in learning how to analyze data. In general, it is best not to
emphasize data too much with new QI teams. Data is important, but the focus should be on helping
health workers to work in teams and make changes. They should spend their initial energy on learning
these new skills. After they are making progress, the coach will have more opportunities to help them
improve their data skills.
Analyzing problems to find root causes and developing effective change

ideas
It is unfortunately human nature, when presented with a problem, to blame the individuals doing the
work and to look for solutions that will help them perform better. While we know that systems are
responsible for most problems, we still tend to look for individual solutions instead of system solutions.
Individual solutions rely on individuals changing their behavior. System solutions rely on changing
systems so that it is easier for individuals to do the right thing without them working harder.
For example, when automated teller machines (ATM) were first introduced, they would dispense cash
and then dispense the card. Many people took the cash and left, forgetting to collect their card. Possible
individual solutions for this problem would include putting up a sign reminding people to wait for their
card or banks organizing education campaigns telling people to remember to get their card. A system
solution would be to give the card back before the cash is dispensed as people are much less likely to forget
the money that they came to withdraw.
Individual and system changes are also applicable in health care. For example, a NICU in New Delhi
required family members entering the NICU to first wash their hands and then put on sterile gowns.
However, family members often did these actions in the wrong order. They tried to teach family members
the right process, but it was time consuming to have to teach new people for every admission and often
they would forget. To make it easier for family members to remember the right order, they moved the
shelf where gowns were kept so that it was more natural for people to first stop and wash their hands and
then move towards the NICU entry where they put on their gowns. This led to family members following
the right process more often and reduced the amount of time nurses had to spend teaching and reminding
family members.
People may learn some of the differences between individual and system changes in QI trainings but
struggle to apply them back in their facilities. They may start by making individual changes. That is fine.
Individual changes are often necessary. Training is often required. But sustained improvement, in most
cases, also requires changes to systems.
Coaches should help teams to progress from making changes related to individual behavior (e.g.,
developing standard operating procedures or guidelines, giving trainings) to making system-level changes.
There are five main reasons why new teams struggle to move beyond individual-level changes:
1) The team may not be getting enough information from the people doing the work, who actually
understand the system constraints. This is why it is so important that the QI team have the right
membership and open communication. All team members, including junior staff members, should feel
free to share their ideas.
2) The team may not be analyzing the situation correctly. The coach should help the team to use
flowcharts, fishbone diagrams and other diagnostic tools. The coach should help new teams to use
analysis tools and should particularly focus on helping identify problems related to how work is
organized rather than looking at individual behavior.
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Coaching guide
3) Our natural tendency to focus on individual behavior rather than systems makes this challenging.
The coach can help by giving examples of system change and putting constraints in place. For
example, a coach could ask the team to draw a fishbone but initially only focus on filling in the ‘bones’
related to barriers caused by ‘place’ and ‘procedure’.
4) All health workers and managers are comfortable with training. They are less comfortable with
making system changes. The coach can help this by focusing on doing a small scale PDSA to test
system changes and build their comfort
5) The team may not be empowered to make system changes. Hence it is important to keep influential
people / leaders informed about the activities and progress of the QI team so that they can provide
support to the team as needed.
Testing and adapting changes

Because new teams often pick changes that they are comfortable with (e.g., training, new standard
operating procedures), they often feel that they can just make the change and see if it works. So, they
apply the change to everyone and test it using a large PDSA (over weeks or months) (e.g., train all
nurses in the importance of starting early initiation of breastfeeding and measure if early initiation of
breastfeeding improves in all babies a month later).
These types of changes and PDSA are useful initially, but in the long run learning how to do smaller
PDSA cycles for the sake of adapting changes is arguably more valuable. This is because the skill of using
small PDSA cycles to adapt changes lets the team try more ambitious changes. For example, a team may
want to reorganize the labour room to create more space for another bed to keep women longer after
delivery as a means to improve early initiation of breastfeeding. There may be no obvious way to organize
the labour room and different people may have different opinions. If the team is skilled at using small
PDSA cycles, they can test multiple options. In this case, they may decide to try two different options for
two patients each to see which setup seems best. Based on what they learn from these tests, they can adapt
again until they have a room setup that is comfortable for the staff and patients before planning a larger
PDSA to see if the new setup leads to better care.
Specific actions coaches can take to encourage small scale PDSA cycles:
 Coaches should quickly try to help new teams to move beyond simply doing PDSA to answer the
question: ‘Did this change work or not?’ to answering the question: ‘How can we make this change
more feasible in our setting?’.
 New teams often carry out several PDSA cycles to adapt ideas but usually don’t recognize them as
tests of change. Coaches can help point out this type of PDSA when they see teams do it and identify
the explicit Plan, Do, Study and Act steps that the team was taking. Coaches can emphasize the
importance as documenting each of these small changes as a test of change (PDSA cycle).
 Coaches can also look for situations when the group has split opinions about what to do to improve
care. These situations lend themselves well to asking the group to try small PDSA to get a bit more
information about the different options.
Sustaining improvement
If the main changes that a team undertakes involve individual behavior, then improvement will be hard
to sustain. If the change was a standard operating procedure, people will need continual reminders and
reinforcement to make sure they continue to comply. If the change was education, then every time
new staff join, they will need to be educated. These types of changes mean that the team will need to
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Coaching guide
work indefinitely to sustain them. However, if teams are able to successfully test ideas related to making
system changes, rather than just changes in individual behavior, they are usually well set up to sustain the
improvements. Coaches should continue to emphasize the importance of getting the right team members,
helping them use the real-life information from service delivery to identify possible solutions for system
barriers and use small PDSA cycles to test and adapt those solutions. If they do these well, their chance of
sustaining improvement will go up dramatically.
What are the components of a good coaching plan?

Having good QI skills and being a good team facilitator is essential to coach QI teams. But it is not
enough. The coach also needs to be able to plan and organize their coaching activities. This is called a
coaching plan. A coach needs to know the health facilities to be supported, the frequency of support,
mode of support and how they are going to track the performance of QI teams. The coach should also be
able to effectively organize coaching meetings and visits, help teams with multiple ways of support and
help share learning among teams and beyond. All these need to be agreed upon in discussion with the
teams.
Components of a good coaching plan

Details on the facilities One coach usually supports more than one health facility. The number of
being supported facilities that a coach supports can vary depending upon:
• Whether the coach can do this work full-time or part-time
• Whether coaching support is in person or virtual (using electronic
technology)
• For in-person support, geographic distances will also affect how much
time the coach will need per facility.
• A full-time QI coach who provides in-person support can support about
10-20 QI teams depending on how far apart the teams are geographically.
• The coach should know clearly which facilities he or she is supporting and
have some details about the facility
Agreeing upon • The teams’ level of experience in quality improvement will determine the
frequency of coaching frequency of coaching support.
support • More frequent support is important when working with new QI teams.
• Usually working with teams every 1- 4 weeks is useful. Over time as QI
teams gain experience, they will need less frequent guidance.
Agreeing upon mode of • Coaching support can be provided through in-person meetings with
coaching support the QI teams and/or through virtual means such as messaging (text,
WhatsApp), emails, phone calls or video conferencing.
• In-person coaching is the most effective way of supporting QI teams.
Sometimes, however, it may be more feasible to support teams through
virtual coaching.
• Virtual coaching can be done by audio conference call or using a video-
conferencing software. Depending upon quality of internet access, latter
should be preferred as it may facilitate better interaction.
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Coaching guide

• Generally, a combination of in-person and virtual coaching can be helpful
in saving time and resources and maintaining the frequency and quality
of coaching support. Between in-person visits, the coach can remain
connected with the teams through virtual means.
• The coach and team should agree on the type of coaching support ahead
of time. If you are going to use technology, the coach should make sure
the team knows how to use the selected technology and that it will work
in their facility.
• In addition to planned coaching visits, the coach should be available for
the QI team for any quick clarifications or suggestions ( through email,
WhatsApp groups and other means)
Keeping track of facility • Coaching doesn’t stop in between the coaching meetings/visits.
performance
• The coach should set up a system to keep track of the performance of
QI teams so that he or she can identify teams that are doing well (and
use these to learn from) and teams that are struggling (and provide these
facilities with extra support).
• Simple Excel or Google spreadsheet can be used for organizing data and
information from facilities and teams, and to keep track of coaching visits.
Organizing coaching • The coaching visit should be scheduled at a convenient time for the
meetings facility and should not interfere with patient care.
• When it is time for a coaching visit, the coach should remind the QI team
about the time of the meeting.
• The coaching meeting should include everyone in the QI team not just
the team leader or senior staff. A typical coaching meeting will require two
to three hours.
• Prior to the meeting, the coach should review what he or she knows about
the current work of the team and should have a rough idea of what QI
skill the team needs to work on.
• The coaching meeting should always begin with an appreciation of the
teams efforts towards improving quality. Critical remarks or negative
feedback should be avoided.
• The coaching meeting should end with action points. These should be
reviewed at beginning of the next meeting.
Using other methods to Sometimes teams may not make progress despite coaching visits. This is
support facilities not uncommon. Luckily, there are two other approaches coaches can use to
support these teams.
• Peer-to-peer support - Bringing facilities together to learn from each
other can help QI teams that are struggling to overcome their challenges.
Peer-to-peer support helps in different ways:
 People can learn practical solutions to problems from staff in other
facilities, who are in a similar setting.
 Seeing people in similar facilities improve care can motivate people to
use the skills they have learned.
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Coaching guide

• Leadership support
 Involving leaders (administrator of the facility or district manager)
in solving problems that QI teams can’t solve themselves can be very
important.
 It can be important to talk to the leaders beforehand about the
principles of coaching so that they do not focus on the negatives or
scold health workers.
Sharing learning Coaches have a key role in helping teams with documentation and presenting
their work to others. The coach should:
• Actively look for success and make it obvious: Sometimes teams do good
work, but do not clearly articulate how they achieved the improvement.
The coach has to ask and listen carefully to discover what exactly the team
did to achieve the results and help them to share these results.
• Help document successful stories in case studies, presentations, and
posters.
• Provide avenues for people to share their QI work.
How to build coaching skills?

When a health system starts a QI programme, the system has to prepare a pool of QI trainers and coaches.
One of the initial steps is to find potential coaches within the system, like champions from hospitals or
from the district management teams or both. Possible options to support new coaches include: initially
conducting joint visits with experienced coaches engaged from outside the district, including experts from
development partners; arranging meetings with established coaches to share experiences and learning; and
receiving guidance from QI experts.
There are other ways to build coaching skills – self-learning, peer-learning with coaching community,
writing case studies/publications, presenting their work, joint visits/observing other coaches in action etc.
You can build coaching skills by:
 Doing more QI work. The more quality improvement work coaches do, both in their own facilities
and externally, the more they will evolve as coaches. Document and revisit what worked and what
did not work as a coach for you with the different teams. This will enable to understand your own
strengths and weaknesses as a coach and help you to improve coaching skills
 Sharing learning and challenges with other coaches. Every QI project is unique because it’s in a
different context. Sometimes even experienced coaches might encounter issues that they are not
sure how to address. It is important for coaches to have connections with other coaches so that they
can learn from each other’s experiences and seek guidance from each other. Building a network and
community of coaches is a great way to ensure that successful ideas can spread easily. Social media and
messaging platforms for coaches to form communities can be very helpful. In addition, coaches can
organize periodic meetings or interactions with other coaches and can also directly contact each other
in between as needed.
 Learning through the internet and other resources. Self-learning is an important option for
QI coaches. There are several online resources for quality improvement. Videos about quality
improvement concepts and experiences are also easily found online. Reading case studies, project
reports and journal articles about other quality improvement experiences is especially useful.
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Coaching guide
 Conducting field visits with a more experienced coach. There are two ways to do this: either you
can observe the experienced coach conduct the coaching session and learn how they do it or you can
have the experienced coach observe you conduct a coaching session and give you tips and feedback
afterwards. Doing visits with other coaches will expose you to different styles of working and coaching.
 Making presentations and getting feedback. Making presentations on the projects completed by your
QI teams (giving due credit to them) among your peer coaches and in conferences is a good way of
understanding a project in depth.
 Writing case studies. Documenting a QI project completed by your teams in the form of a case
study is very useful in developing a deeper understanding of how improvements in care were made;
especially, documenting what worked and what did not work and the challenges faced in the project.
In all publications, credit should be given to the quality improvement team and efforts should be
made to include members of the team as co-authors; thus, helping the team to build their skills in
documenting and sharing their work.
The figure below presents a schema for a stepped approach for evolving into an experienced QI coach:
Gains experience in completing multiple QI projects and facilitates

several QI trainings
Starts coaching QI teams - in other units/wards in own facility or

other facilities and in other clinical care areas
Self-study or consult experts on issues that arise during

coaching
Sharing learning with other coaches
Field visits with more experienced coach
What support do coaches need?

Coaching is an important component for improving care at the frontline. QI programmes in states,
districts, or large institutions that have included QI coaching in their plans should make sure that coaches
have enough time for the field visits as well as resources for transportation.
It is hard for an individual coach to develop and implement his/her own coaching plan. They will almost
always need some support from their organization. This will include: permission to spend time on
coaching; resources for in-person visits and meetings or virtual interactions; resources for peer-to-peer
meetings; support data management from multiple facilities; and linkages to leadership at health facilities
and district management to solve problems that facilities can’t solve.
An overall management system should be in place that can provide this support to coaches. Such a
system will also track whether coaches are able to make their contribution to the QI programme and
whether they need any additional support and then take action to provide this support.
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Coaching guide
SECTION 2
Part A: Participant
worksheet
Case scenarios for coaching
15
Coaching guide
This section consists of a set of scenarios that are commonly seen when coaching teams in their initial QI
projects. The section is divided into two parts:
 Part A is the Participant Worksheet in which the participants write their responses to the questions
related to each case scenario of the coaching case study;
 Part B is the Facilitator Guide that has notes to be used by the facilitators to explain the case scenarios
and discuss the responses of the participants.
There are two ways of doing the exercise: a) Workshop Format and b) Self-Study Format.
a) Workshop Format - We recommend that the case scenario exercise be done in a workshop format
with a group of potential or newly inducted coaches as participants. Experienced QI experts are
required as facilitators for this workshop. The recommended ratio is one facilitator for a group of 6-9
participants. Such a workshop usually takes about two hours. The facilitators use the Facilitator Guide
and participants use the Participant Worksheet.
 Possible Variation: Within the workshop format, the participants can be divided into groups
and can do the exercise as a role play of the visiting coach and the QI team. An enactment of the
coaches’ approach towards problem solving, appreciative attitude and stimulating the teams rather
than imposing a solution can offer a real time experience of coaching.
b) Self-Study Format – The case scenario exercises can also be used as a self-study document. For self-
study users, we recommend that the user first think about the case scenario and write down the
possible actions he or she will take in the Participant Worksheet. Only after completing the worksheet,
they may consult the Facilitator Guide for the learning points provided therein for actions related to
each discussion.
This exercise has been developed to meet the initial practical needs of coaches. The scenarios included in
the package are based on real experiences by QI coaches. These can be adapted to include details specific
to the setting or group of participants.
We hope that this introduction to coaching and the coaching case scenarios will provide new and potential
coaches with the confidence to do their work in providing coaching to the healthcare teams newly trained
in point of care quality improvement (POCQI).
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Coaching guide
Participant worksheet
Case scenario: Part 1
Facility staff members attend QI training:
The senior medical officer (SMO) and the nurse-in-charge (NIC) from a community health center
(CHC) (a 30-bedded health facility) attend training on using QI approaches for care of women
and newborns. They decide to improve two aspects of care at their health facility:
- increase early initiation of breastfeeding (within 1 hour) after delivery at their facility and
- reduce hypothermia among newborns delivered at their facility
The senior medical officer becomes the team leader and they plan to return to their facility to
initiate the improvement project.
A coach visits the team at their health facility:

Following the QI training, a coach comes to the facility for a scheduled coaching visit. The coach
finds that only the SMO and NIC are available to meet to discuss the QI project. The SMO and
NIC inform the coach that they have begun the QI project, but have not had any meetings with
other staff in their unit.
Discussion 1.1
Q1. What has the QI team done well? (Please write in the space below)
Q2. What have they not done well yet?
Discussion 1.2
What should the coach do next?
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Coaching guide

The coach congratulates the SMO and NIC for getting started. She asks the SMO and NIC who
at the facility is involved in delivering babies and looking after newborns. They explain that nurses
do this work. The coach asks if these nurses have been invited to join the QI team.
The SMO and NIC explain that the labour room nurses were invited but have not been able to
join. The main problem is that they work in different shifts, so they can’t find a good time to meet.
The coach asks the SMO and NIC for ideas to solve this problem. The nurse-in-charge suggests
that she could visit the labour room at the time of the shift change of the nurses and meet them
when both outgoing and incoming nurses would be present. The SMO, NIC and coach decide to
meet after two weeks.
Second visit by the coach:

The coach visits the facility after two weeks, she discovers that the SMO and NIC have involved
the labour room nurses. This larger QI team has met three times and everybody has agreed to start
breastfeeding early and to keep babies warm. One staff nurse has collected data on breastfeeding
and babies’ temperatures. She informs the coach that during the first week there was some
improvement in the proportion of babies who had initiated breastfeeding within an hour and
proportion of babies with a temperature in the normal range, but then there was a decline.
Discussion 2.1
Why do you think the initial improvement was not sustained?
Discussion 2.2
What do you do as a coach?
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Coaching guide

The coach appreciates the QI team for getting initial improvement. The coach also appreciates that
they are collecting data about the problem. She asks the team what led to improvement. The SMO
responds that he has sensitized all the staff on the importance of early initiation of breastfeeding
and keeping the babies warm. The coach asks the team members if they can think of any possible
reasons why the results were not sustained. The SMO says that they were not able to sustain results
because some of the nurses are not motivated.
The coach then asks the nurses specifically if they are facing any problems/challenges in starting
early breastfeeding or keeping the babies warm. One nurse responds that both these activities
are difficult because babies are taken away by the relatives and mothers are moved out of the
labor room soon after delivery, so the babies do not get skin-to-skin contact and nurses don’t
get adequate time to counsel the mothers. So, it is not true that the nurses are not motivated, as
expressed by the SMO.
Discussion 3.1
Why do you think the team leader (senior medical officer) and team member (nurse)
have different opinions?
Discussion 3.2

The coach asks if the QI team has used any of the problem analysis tools that they learned to use
during the QI training. The team says they have not. They ask the coach which tool they should
use.
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Coaching guide
Discussion 4
What should the coach suggest?

The QI team draws a flow chart of all activities that take place from the moment of delivery in the
labour room to the initiation of breastfeeding. Because the nurses know most about the specific
activities, most of the flow chart is filled in with input from the nurses. The flow chart they develop
is given below:
No
Delivery Deliver on Complication Clean & dry Delayed cord Weigh the Wrap in
abdomen the baby clamping baby Cloth
(1-3 minutes)
Yes
Mother & Baby handed over

Emergency to the relatives
baby unite in
Care
the ward
Discussion 5

The QI team reviews the flow chart and identifies the main problem from the flow chart: the
family members take the newborn away, and this prevents the nurses from checking the baby’s
temperature, continuing skin-to-skin care, or starting breastfeeding within an hour.
The senior medical officer says they should tell the family that they cannot take the newborn until
after the first breastfeeding has been completed.
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Coaching guide
Discussion 6.1
What solutions should the coach give to the team?
Discussion 6.2

The coach asks the nurses on the team why do the family members take the newborn away.
One of the nurse shares that the family is supposed to keep the baby with the mother, but they
often take the baby away to show to other relatives, give pre-lacteal feeds, and take pictures.
Another nurse mentions that the family has to receive the baby because the mother has to be
moved from the labour (delivery) room to the post-partum (postnatal) ward soon after delivery,
and it is not safe for the mother to hold the baby while she is being transferred. It is often over an
hour before the mother and baby are reunited in the postnatal ward.
The coach suggests that the team try using another tool to understand better why the mother has
to be moved to the postnatal ward before the initiation of breastfeeding. The team decides to use
the 5 whys tool to see if they can identify a possible solution that can help keep the mother and
baby together immediately following delivery. As a group they use 5 whys and come up with the
following analysis:
Q1: Why early initiation of breast feeding is not done?
A1: Because the mother is shifted to the postnatal ward before breast feeding
Q2: Why is the mother moved to the postnatal ward before breastfeeding?
A2: Because the nurses need to free up the labour table for the next delivery
Q3: Why can’t the mother and baby stay in the labour room on another bed?
A3: Because there is no extra bed
Q4: Why is there no extra bed?
A4: Another bed has not been requested
The senior medical officer is now very enthusiastic. He orders the nurse-in-charge to put a bed
in the labour room and tells the coach that the next time she comes back 100% of babies will be
breastfed early and none will be cold. The coach notices that most of the nurses seem less eager
than the doctor.
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Coaching guide
Discussion 7
What should the coach do?

The coach congratulates the team on coming up with the possible solution of putting in an extra
bed in the labour room. She also notes that there is a difference of opinion among the team about
how feasible it will be to put the new bed in the labour room.
She asks the team if anyone remembers from the QI training what to do when the team has a
change idea. The nurse-in-charge says that she thinks that the QI team can test if putting the
bed in the labour room is feasible or not. The coach asks the nurse about whether she has any
suggestions on how they can test this idea. The nurse suggests that they put the bed in the labour
room for the next month and at the next coaching visit the team can see how many newborns
are starting breastfeeding early and are normothermic by the time they are ready to move to the
postnatal ward.
The coach asks what the rest of the team thinks about this idea. One of the nurses says that there
isn’t enough space for another bed. The coach asks the other nurses what they think. There is
disagreement. Some think there is enough space and others think there isn’t.
Discussion 8

The coach commends the nurse-in-charge for suggesting a good way of testing the change idea.
The coach asks the team if the test needs to be a month long. They say, “Yes, a month is a good
duration.” The coach asks the QI team what they are trying to learn by doing this test. The team
says they are trying to learn if moving the bed into the labour room leads to more breastfeeding
and less hypothermia.
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Coaching guide
The coach asks the team if there is any possible downside (likely adverse effect) to having another
bed in the labour room. The nurse who had previously said that there was not enough space replies
that this may lead to crowding in the labour room and hamper the delivery services. The coach
says, “Great point. There seems to be some uncertainty about whether there is enough space. Do
we need to test this change for one whole month to learn if putting another bed in the labour room
causes crowding?”
The team decides that they can shorten the test to two days to test for feasibility. They first want
to learn if placing the bed in the labour room causes overcrowding before they measure the
effectiveness in achieving early initiation of breastfeeding within an hour of delivery.
The coach plans the next coaching visit after two weeks. The coach suggests the team leader if they
could share their data and with her before the next meeting and encourages the team to review their
data before the actual meeting.
Third coaching visit:

The coach returns after two weeks for the next coaching visit.
The team has shared data from the past ten days showing that early breastfeeding rates have
increased and that more newborns are now normothermic at 60 minutes after delivery. The coach
reviews the data with the team and helps them to start drawing a time series chart.
The coach learns from the QI team that they have tested different locations in the labour room for
placement of the extra bed. The team learns that placement of the bed just outside the labour room
with a surrounding curtain worked well.
The nurses like the new setup. It makes it easier for them to manage the labour room, keeps the labor
table free, and helps them to keep mother and baby together; thus, letting them provide better care
for their patients. The combination of easier work and better care makes them more confident about
the change idea.
However, one of the nurses says that they still have not fully reached their aim.
Discussion 9
23
Coaching guide

The coach explains to the team that it is unusual for one change idea to fix the problem entirely.
There are many causes for one problem, and they have addressed one such cause and seen
improvement. The coach praises the team for this achievement. The coach reminds the team to
reflect on how much their QI work has already benefited their patients. The coach asks everyone to
give themselves a round of applause.
The coach then asks them to further analyze the situation and come up with other ideas that can
be tested for changing the processes of care.
Having been successful to some extent already, the QI team is more enthusiastic and interested and,
after some discussion, comes up with and tests several ideas over the next three months. They test
several ideas over the next three months. Some ideas (changes) worked well immediately, some needed
to be adjusted until they work and didn’t work at all. The coach should encourage teams to continue
to collect data properly, because it is not unusual for teams to try a lot of change ideas but forgetting
to collect and analyze their data.
The coach keeps visiting the team at regular intervals and keeps guiding them through the process.
In this systematic and diligent way, the QI team achieves both its aims of improving initiation of
early breastfeeding and keeping newborn babies warm.
The coach and the team celebrate this success together. “Well done, team!”. The coach also
brings this achievement to the attention of the head of the health facility, who acknowledges and
appreciates the efforts of the QI team. The coach also encourages the QI team to present their
“successful QI project” at local and state level meetings.
In a future coaching visit, the coach guides the team to select another improvement aim in the care
of mothers and newborns – like given women uterotonic within one minute of delivery to prevent
postpartum hemorrhage. This time the team needs less coaching support and are able to use the
QI skills and tools with more confidence to continue improving care for mothers and newborns in
their facility.
24
Coaching guide
SECTION 2
Part B: Facilitator
guide
25
Coaching guide

Facility staff members attend QI training:
The senior medical officer (SMO) and the nurse-in-charge (NIC) from a community health center
(CHC) (a 30-bedded health facility) attend training on using QI approaches for care of women
and newborns. They decide to improve two aspects of care at their health facility:
- increase early initiation of breastfeeding (within 1 hour) after delivery at their facility and
- reduce hypothermia among newborns delivered at their facility
The senior medical officer becomes the team leader and they plan to return to their facility to
initiate the improvement project.
A coach visits the team at their health facility:

Following the QI training, a coach comes to the facility for a scheduled coaching visit. The coach
finds that only the SMO and NIC are available to meet to discuss the QI project. The SMO and
NIC inform the coach that they have begun the QI project, but have not had any meetings with
other staff in their unit.
Discussion 1.1
Q1. What has the QI team done well? (Please write in the space below)
Q2. What have they not done well yet?
Learning points (Discussion 1.1)

One of the most important aspects of being a good coach is to be friendly, pleasant and supportive.
Coaching is not an inspection or supervision to find faults. The job of a coach is to encourage the
healthcare teams and help build their skills and ability to make improvements in their work. This is done
by first noticing the things they have done right, and appreciating and reinforcing them. A good coach
always sees the glass as half full (not half empty) and then looks for ways to fill it even more. Thus, the
coach should start with noticing the things that have been done right.
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Coaching guide
Some things that the team in this scenario has done well are:
 They coordinated the coaching visit and were available to meet with the coach
 They have identified good problems in quality of care to address and prepared aims
 They are committed to improving and doing better
Some things that haven’t been done yet are:

 They haven’t involved other staff in the labour room
 They haven’t started analyzing the problem to find the cause or solving problems
 They have not started collecting data regarding the selected aims
The coach understands that these challenges are common among new QI teams. Following the QI
training, many participants do not immediately form a proper team and start improving care. It is a
common scenario that teams don't form until after the coaches’ visit and this is not a failure of the
training or the coaching. Reasons for not immediately forming a proper team at their health facility
following initial QI training include:
 The need for additional time to bring colleagues together to form a QI team
 Not fully knowing how to initiate a QI team
 Not understanding who should be on the QI team
Discussion 1.2

The coach should first:
 Thank the SMO and NIC for coordinating the coaching visit and being available to meet with her
 Appreciate them for prioritizing relevant quality of care problems to work on.
The next step is to encourage and support them to form a team:

 Ask the SMO and NIC about which staff are involved in the delivery process and in caring for
newborns soon after delivery. This will help identify the people who should be on the team.
 Request the SMO and NIC for suggestions on how to involve these staff members on the QI team.
 Note - The coach should help the team members find their own solutions and not provide ready-
made solutions from her side.
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Coaching guide

The coach congratulates the SMO and NIC for getting started. She asks the SMO and NIC who
at the facility is involved in delivering babies and looking after newborns. They explain that nurses
do this work. The coach asks if these nurses have been invited to join the QI team.
The SMO and NIC explain that the labour room nurses were invited but have not been able to
join. The main problem is that they work in different shifts, so they can’t find a good time to meet.
The coach asks the SMO and NIC for ideas to solve this problem. The nurse-in-charge suggests
that she could visit the labour room at the time of the shift change of the nurses and meet them
when both outgoing and incoming nurses would be present. The SMO, NIC and coach decide to
meet after two weeks.
Second visit by the coach:

The coach visits the facility after two weeks, she discovers that the SMO and NIC have involved
the labour room nurses. This larger QI team has met three times and everybody has agreed to start
breastfeeding early and to keep babies warm. One staff nurse has collected data on breastfeeding
and babies’ temperatures. She informs the coach that during the first week there was some
improvement in the proportion of babies who had initiated breastfeeding within an hour and
proportion of babies with a temperature in the normal range, but then there was a decline.
Discussion 2.1
Why do you think the initial improvement was not sustained?

 It is common that new QI teams are able to get initial improvement but are not able to sustain it over
time, and the performance slips back quickly towards the baseline.
 Mostly this happens because new teams often do not spend time identifying the real causes of the
problem. Instead, they tend to jump to solutions focused on telling people what to do. This can
take the form of education or training programmes for staff or giving instructions and directing
staff to implement a particular guideline.
 The result of such actions is that staff members work harder for a time to meet these new
instructions, but are not able to sustain the extra effort over time as the initial enthusiasm and
strictness wears off.
 New QI teams find it hard to look beyond the common solutions like training, orientation and
instructions for three reasons:
1. Health workers and managers often have the misplaced assumption that most quality issues are due
to lack of staff knowledge or motivation. In reality, most quality problems are because the system in
which people work makes it hard for them to do the right thing.
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Coaching guide
2. When problems arise, it is usually the senior staff that decide how to fix these problems. They do not
always ask for input from the staff involved in the actual day-to-day work, and therefore do not learn
about constraints in the system.
3. Identifying the barriers in the system that make it hard for people to provide good care is a skill that’s
developed over time.
Teams often need help in looking beyond common solutions that are based on misplaced assumptions,
such as that most quality issues are because the staff has poor knowledge or do not know what to do and
how to do it. The first, and most important, step is to learn from the people doing the actual work
about what makes it hard for them to provide the care that they want to provide.
Discussion 2.2
What do you do as a coach?

 It is important for the coach to be positive with the team. The positives so far include:
 They now have a team
 They have already recorded some improvement
 They have data to show what is happening
 The key next step for the coach is to help the team to get more ideas from the nurses, who actually
deliver babies and provide immediate care for newborns after birth. These nurses will know why it is
hard to provide the right care and will have good solutions to make it happen.
 The coach can also ask the QI team to share the challenges they faced in starting early initiation of
breastfeeding and keeping the babies warm.
 The coach can support the team in this regard by asking in depth questions. The idea is to walk them
through the process without calling it that. This can best be done by asking questions - What usually
happens after this ..?, and then? and then? and so forth. The team needs to be made to think about
what happens at each step.
 Do not forget to appreciate the person/people who shares the actual story.

The coach appreciates the QI team for getting initial improvement. The coach also appreciates that
they are collecting data about the problem. She asks the team what led to improvement. The SMO
responds that he has sensitized all the staff on the importance of early initiation of breastfeeding
and keeping the babies warm. The coach asks the team members if they can think of any possible
reasons why the results were not sustained. The SMO says that they were not able to sustain results
because some of the nurses are not motivated.
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Coaching guide
The coach then asks the nurses specifically if they are facing any problems/challenges in starting
early breastfeeding or keeping the babies warm. One nurse responds that both these activities
are difficult because babies are taken away by the relatives and mothers are moved out of the
labor room soon after delivery, so the babies do not get skin-to-skin contact and nurses don’t
get adequate time to counsel the mothers. So, it is not true that the nurses are not motivated, as
expressed by the SMO.
Discussion 3.1
Why do you think the team leader (senior medical officer) and team member (nurse)
have different opinions?

 There are often such situations in front of the coach where team members have difference of opinion
in their problem analysis
 Senior staff are often involved in management process and are not necessarily as involved with all
aspects of the day-to-day healthcare. Therefore, they may assume that problems lie with the people
doing the work, such as that they do not have the knowledge or skills to perform the work. They often
might not understand the real barriers that prevent the staff in their team from doing the work.
 The expectation that staff are able to immediately and always carry out exactly what they have been
trained in is not always realistic. The coach and the QI team need to find out what other barriers
must be overcome.
Discussion 3.2

 The information from the team member (nurse) suggests that the current way in which that care
is being provided to newborns makes it hard for nurses to start early initiation of breastfeeding or
keeping babies warm.
 The coach should encourage the QI team to use an analysis tool to understand the current situation
better. (Next step)
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Coaching guide

The coach asks if the QI team has used any of the problem analysis tools that they learned to use
during the QI training. The team says they have not. They ask the coach which tool they should
use.
Discussion 4
What should the coach suggest?
Learning points (Discussion 4)

There are 4 main analysis tools that can be used in different ways:
 Flow Charts are good for understanding different steps that are happening in a sequence and the
different people who are involved in various steps of care.
 Fishbone Diagrams are good for thinking broadly about all the different factors that influence care.
This tool helps teams think of the four main factors that determine healthcare delivery: process
(procedure), place, people and policy. The fishbone diagram should be used to encourage the team to
think about how issues related to process and place affect care. Usually addressing issues of process and
place can lead to sustained improvement even if the staff changes subsequently.
 The 5 whys is good for in-depth understanding of the reason for a particular, immediate contributing
cause.
 Pareto Principle implies that 80% of the problem can be attributed to 20% of the causes. The Pareto
analysis is useful for selecting the main causes of a problem and focusing improvement efforts on
them.
While all these tools could be used in the problem noted in the case scenario under discussion, the flow
chart would be a good one to start with in this case. The QI team wants to understand all the activities
that occur between delivery of the baby and initiation of breastfeeding and maintaining body temperature
of the newborn. Drawing a flow chart might help them identify where in the process their current way of
working is making it difficult for the nurses to deliver adequate care.

The QI team draws a flow chart of all activities that take place from the moment of delivery in the
labour room to the initiation of breastfeeding. Because the nurses know most about the specific
activities, most of the flow chart is filled in with input from the nurses. The flow chart they develop
is given below:
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Coaching guide
No
Delivery Deliver on Complication Clean & dry Delayed cord Weigh the Wrap in
abdomen the baby clamping baby Cloth
(1-3 minutes)
Yes
Mother & Baby handed over

Emergency to the relatives
baby unite in
Care
the ward
Discussion 5

 The coach should encourage QI team at every new interaction. The coach should remember to
identify first what all is going well and appreciate that.
 The coach should help the team identify what seem to be the biggest barriers – the coach should
encourage the team to analyze the flow chart and to identify the steps where the problems are
occurring. The coach should be patient and let the team members identify the issues indicated by
the flow chart and not give suggestions from her side.
 Help the team develop change ideas to address the identified problems: The coach should prompt the
teams by asking, “So what ideas do you have for addressing this?” The coach should be patient and wait
for the team members to come up with suggestions and avoid giving her own preformed solutions.

The QI team reviews the flow chart and identifies the main problem from the flow chart: the
family members take the newborn away, and this prevents the nurses from checking the baby’s
temperature, continuing skin-to-skin care, or starting breastfeeding within an hour.
The senior medical officer says they should tell the family that they cannot take the newborn until
after the first breastfeeding has been completed.
Discussion 6.1
What solutions should the coach give to the team?
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Coaching guide

 The coach should ask in depth questions and usually should not come up with ready-made solutions.
Discussion 6.2

 In this scenario, the SMO again jumped to a solution without first analyzing the problem: “They
should tell the family that they cannot take the newborn until after the first breastfeeding.”
 A key principles of coaching is to understand of the real circumstances in a system. A culturally
unacceptable change can never be sustained. Hence coaches should help teams to make changes that
conform within the norms of that context.
 The coach should encourage the team to first analyze and understand the problem before moving to
solutions.
 The coach could remind the participants that there is a tool to go deeper into the causes of a specific
problem, which might help them.
 The coach should take every opportunity to involve the junior members of the team during
interactions so that the senior leaders - the SMO and NIC in this case- could emulate the coach.

The coach asks the nurses on the team why do the family members take the newborn away.
One of the nurse shares that the family is supposed to keep the baby with the mother, but they
often take the baby away to show to other relatives, give pre-lacteal feeds, and take pictures.
Another nurse mentions that the family has to receive the baby because the mother has to be
moved from the labour (delivery) room to the post-partum (postnatal) ward soon after delivery,
and it is not safe for the mother to hold the baby while she is being transferred. It is often over an
hour before the mother and baby are reunited in the postnatal ward.
The coach suggests that the team try using another tool to understand better why the mother has
to be moved to the postnatal ward before the initiation of breastfeeding. The team decides to use
the 5 whys tool to see if they can identify a possible solution that can help keep the mother and
baby together immediately following delivery. As a group they use 5 whys and come up with the
following analysis:
Q1: Why early initiation of breast feeding is not done?
A1: Because the mother is shifted to the postnatal ward before breast feeding
Q2: Why is the mother moved to the postnatal ward before breastfeeding?
A2: Because the nurses need to free up the labour table for the next delivery
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Coaching guide
Q3: Why can’t the mother and baby stay in the labour room on another bed?
A3: Because there is no extra bed
Q4: Why is there no extra bed?
A4: Another bed has not been requested
The senior medical officer is now very enthusiastic. He orders the nurse-in-charge to put a bed
in the labour room and tells the coach that the next time she comes back 100% of babies will be
breastfed early and none will be cold. The coach notices that most of the nurses seem less eager
than the doctor.
The coach asks what the rest of the team thinks about this idea. One of the nurses says that there
isn’t enough space for another bed. The coach asks the other nurses what they think. There is
disagreement. Some think there is enough space and others think there isn’t.
Discussion 7
What should the coach do?

 The coach should continue to be positive with the team and take a moment to appreciate the progress
of the team so far. The positives here are:
 The team has done a good analysis.
 The team has identified a solution that has the potential to lead to better care.
 Remind the team that many good ideas may not work perfectly immediately.

The coach congratulates the team on coming up with the possible solution of putting in an extra
bed in the labour room. She also notes that there is a difference of opinion among the team about
how feasible it will be to put the new bed in the labour room.
She asks the team if anyone remembers from the QI training what to do when the team has a
change idea. The nurse-in-charge says that she thinks that the QI team can test if putting the
bed in the labour room is feasible or not. The coach asks the nurse about whether she has any
suggestions on how they can test this idea. The nurse suggests that they put the bed in the labour
room for the next month and at the next coaching visit the team can see how many newborns
are starting breastfeeding early and are normothermic by the time they are ready to move to the
postnatal ward.
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Coaching guide
Discussion 8

 The coach first notices the positives and appreciates them. The positives are:
 The team understands the concept of testing a change idea.
 For most change ideas, the initial tests should first focus on feasibility. So, the test should be done on a
small scale for a short time period and cover only a few patients. Such a test can be done in one or two
shifts.
 The coach should advise the team that the PDSA test duration should not be determined by the
frequency of QI team meetings or coaching visits but by learning objectives and the minimum amount
of time and information required for learning.

The coach commends the nurse-in-charge for suggesting a good way of testing the change idea.
The coach asks the team if the test needs to be a month long. They say, “Yes, a month is a good
duration.” The coach asks the QI team what they are trying to learn by doing this test. The team
says they are trying to learn if moving the bed into the labour room leads to more breastfeeding
and less hypothermia.
The coach asks the team if there is any possible downside (likely adverse effect) to having another
bed in the labour room. The nurse who had previously said that there was not enough space replies
that this may lead to crowding in the labour room and hamper the delivery services. The coach
says, “Great point. There seems to be some uncertainty about whether there is enough space. Do
we need to test this change for one whole month to learn if putting another bed in the labour room
causes crowding?”
The team decides that they can shorten the test to two days to test for feasibility. They first want
to learn if placing the bed in the labour room causes overcrowding before they measure the
effectiveness in achieving early initiation of breastfeeding within an hour of delivery.
The coach plans the next coaching visit after two weeks. The coach suggests the team leader if they
could share their data and with her before the next meeting and encourages the team to review
their data before the actual meeting.
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Coaching guide
Third coaching visit:

The coach returns after two weeks for the next coaching visit.
The team has shared data from the past ten days showing that early breastfeeding rates have
increased and that more newborns are now normothermic at 60 minutes after delivery. The coach
reviews the data with the team and helps them to start drawing a time series chart.
The coach learns from the QI team that they have tested different locations in the labour room for
placement of the extra bed. The team learns that placement of the bed just outside the labour room
with a surrounding curtain worked well.
The nurses like the new setup. It makes it easier for them to manage the labour room, keeps the
labor table free, and helps them to keep mother and baby together; thus, letting them provide
better care for their patients. The combination of easier work and better care makes them more
confident about the change idea.
However, one of the nurses says that they still have not fully reached their aim.
Discussion 9

 The coach should recognize that this is a time to celebrate the success of a change idea. Encourage the
team to give themselves a round of applause.
 The coach should also note the positives and what led to the success of the idea:
 The team had done a good analysis.
 The team did not go straight away with the first way to implement the change idea, but tested the
proposed idea in multiple ways. This led to the most convenient option being used.
 The team has identified a solution that has led to better care with no added work or resources. In
fact, they found it easier to now to provide complete care around the time of birth.
 They are able to show improvements using their data.
 The coach emphasizes the importance of testing and adapting new ideas.
 The coach emphasizes the need for such changes that make it easier to do the work rather than rely on
people working harder while continuing the same routine (without a change).
 The coach should now encourage more analysis and help the team come up with other ideas to further
improve care.
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Coaching guide

The coach explains to the team that it is unusual for one change idea to fix the problem entirely.
There are many causes for one problem, and they have addressed one such cause and seen
improvement. The coach praises the team for this achievement. The coach reminds the team to
reflect on how much their QI work has already benefited their patients. The coach asks everyone to
give themselves a round of applause.
The coach then asks them to further analyze the situation and come up with other ideas that can
be tested for changing the processes of care.
Having been successful to some extent already, the QI team is more enthusiastic and interested
and, after some discussion, comes up with and tests several ideas over the next three months. They
test several ideas over the next three months. Some ideas (changes) worked well immediately, some
needed to be adjusted until they work and didn’t work at all. The coach should encourage teams to
continue to collect data properly, because it is not unusual for teams to try a lot of change ideas but
forgetting to collect and analyze their data.
The coach keeps visiting the team at regular intervals and keeps guiding them through the process.
In this systematic and diligent way, the QI team achieves both its aims of improving initiation of
early breastfeeding and keeping newborn babies warm.
The coach and the team celebrate this success together. “Well done, team!”. The coach also
brings this achievement to the attention of the head of the health facility, who acknowledges and
appreciates the efforts of the QI team. The coach also encourages the QI team to present their
“successful QI project” at local and state level meetings.
In a future coaching visit, the coach guides the team to select another improvement aim in the care
of mothers and newborns – like given women uterotonic within one minute of delivery to prevent
postpartum hemorrhage. This time the team needs less coaching support and are able to use the
QI skills and tools with more confidence to continue improving care for mothers and newborns in
their facility.
37
Coaching guide
38
Coaching guide
Annexes
39
Coaching guide
Annex 1: Coaching visit outline for supporting

new teams
This is a general guideline for some of the tasks a coach will need to do during a coaching visit. A coach
may not need to do all of these in a single visit. Also these activities do not have to be done in this specific
order. Other tasks not listed in this table might also be needed. The coach should tailor their work during
the coaching visit depending on the needs of the QI team and their progress.
Main activities Specific tasks Approximate

duration
Introduction of the Introduce participants 10 min
session
Discuss the agenda
Ensure to keep time and encourage team to choose a member
to take notes.
Update on the QI Encourage the team to describe their progress with the 15 min
work and progress improvement project aim/objectives, indicators, and changes
(planned or introduced).
Ask questions to ensure that you understand the situation
properly.
Recognition and Appreciate the team’s progress and efforts. 5 min
appreciation of
Point out specifically things that they have done well.
progress made by
team
Prioritize issues and Encourage the team to list the issues to be discussed regarding 15 min
challenges team is the project.
facing
Identification of Observe the methodology they are using for data collection 15 min
concerns about data and if needed give inputs to simplify the process.
collection and review
Technical assistance Depending on the progress of the team and the issues they 30 min
bring up you might need to help the team do one or more of
the following
• Help them to choose the correct problem which is easy to
fix and within their control.
• Help them choose the relevant team members involved in
the process, if missing.
• Use the relevant analysis tool(s) e.g. fishbone etc.
• Help them reviewing data and draw a run chart
40
Coaching guide
Main activities Specific tasks Approximate

duration
• Most importantly help the team selecting a change idea
and plan the next test of change. Team should know what
they expect to learn from this test and exactly how it is
going to be carried out.
• For more advanced QI efforts, the coach will help the team
document the improvement experience.
Every coaching visit is an opportunity to not only solve the
team’s immediate challenge but also to build their knowledge
of the concepts and tools of quality improvement.
Debriefing and Have a volunteer (usually the note-taker) from the team 15 min
Planning for next summarize what has been done and learnt during the session
steps
Discuss and decide upon possible solutions/next steps to be
taken by the team
Help the team plan the next steps usually the next test of
change.
Ensure there is clarity among team members over next steps.
Appreciate the work of the QI team
Follow up planning Agree upon the next communication (email, telephone, etc.) 5 min
Agree upon a date for the next coaching session
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Coaching guide
Annex 2: Coach self evaluation proforma
This form can be used by coaches to assess their performance in conducting a coaching visit or session.
This can help coaches identify what they can do to improve their coaching sessions and help them become
better coaches.
S. No Activity Self – assessment Suggestions for

improvement
1. Preparations prior to session (Agenda, Well Need
Informed teams in time ) performed improvement
2. Was the purpose of the session well explained Well Need
to the teams performed improvement
3. Facilitated use of appropriate QI tools Well Need
performed improvement
4. Ability to enhance participation by all the Well Need
team members performed improvement
5. Was feedback given on keeping the Well Need
measurement simple and doable performed improvement
6. Were the next action steps clear to the team Well Need
members performed improvement
7. Was there any introduction to new learning Well Need
resources performed improvement
8. Was the next session planned Well Need
9. Documentation of the visit/ session Well Need
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Coaching for quality

Point of Care Quality Improvement

Introduction to this guide 1

Introduction to this guide

How to use this guide

This POCQI Coaching Guide consists of two sections:

Section 1 – Introduction: Coaching for quality improvement

Section 2 – Case scenarios: Coaching for quality improvement

Section 2 is divided into two parts:

Introduction: Coaching for quality improvement

What are the key skills required for coaching?

How does coaching differ from monitoring or supervision?

Monitoring or supervision Coaching

Who should be a coach?

What does a quality improvement coach do?

The QI coaches undertake several activities:

What are the principles of coaching?

Principles of coaching Attitudes or actions to demonstrate these principles

Principles of coaching Attitudes or actions to demonstrate these principles

How should a coach build teams’ QI technical skills?

QI skill New QI team More experienced QI team

QI skill New QI team More experienced QI team

Prioritizing problems and choosing good aims

Working effectively in teams

Analyzing problems to find root causes and developing effective change

Testing and adapting changes

What are the components of a good coaching plan?

Components of a good coaching plan

Components of a good coaching plan

Components of a good coaching plan

How to build coaching skills?

Gains experience in completing multiple QI projects and facilitates

Starts coaching QI teams - in other units/wards in own facility or

Self-study or consult experts on issues that arise during

Sharing learning with other coaches

Field visits with more experienced coach

What support do coaches need?

Case scenarios for coaching

A coach visits the team at their health facility:

Q2. What have they not done well yet?

Case scenario: Part 2

Second visit by the coach:

Case scenario: Part 3

Case scenario: Part 4

Case scenario: Part 5

Mother & Baby handed over

Case scenario: Part 6

Case scenario: Part 7

Case scenario: Part 8

Case scenario: Part 9

Third coaching visit:

Case scenario: Part 10

Case scenarios for coaching

Case scenario: Part 1

A coach visits the team at their health facility:

Q2. What have they not done well yet?

Learning points (Discussion 1.1)