To implement and sustain a QI change, turn a tested way of working into a supported routine: define the process, assign an operational owner, prepare...
How to close out a QI project: report and handover checklist
To close out a quality improvement project, review the results against the aim, record the learning and limitations, hand over any ongoing responsibilities and agree the closure decision. Keep the evidence accessible so the service can sustain useful changes and other teams can learn from the work.
Closure does not always mean success. A project may finish with an implemented change, partial progress, an inconclusive result or a decision to stop. This final article in our guide to running a successful QI project explains how to close each of these situations clearly.
When is a QI project ready to close?
Consider closure when the agreed project work is complete and routine ownership is in place, or when the sponsor and team decide there is a sound reason to stop. A planned end date is a useful review point, but it does not remove the need to resolve outstanding responsibilities.
Before closing, confirm that the team can explain what happened, where the supporting evidence is stored and who owns anything that continues. If essential testing or handover remains unfinished, record that openly and agree whether to extend, transfer or stop the work.
1. Review the results against the original aim
Bring the aim statement, measures and test records to a final review. Include any dated revisions to the aim, scope or measurement definitions.
Summarise the baseline, the period of testing and what happened after the changes. Show the data in time order using an appropriate chart and annotate relevant interventions or events. Review outcome, process and balancing measures together.
Distinguish the result from your interpretation. A change in performance after an intervention may be consistent with improvement, but other factors may also have contributed. Describe those factors and the strength of the evidence rather than claiming certainty the data cannot support.
State whether the aim was met, partly met, not met or could not be assessed reliably. Explain the timeframe and population covered. If you report a percentage change, make the calculation and underlying values clear.
2. Capture learning, including what did not work
Review the sequence of PDSA cycles. Which assumptions were supported, which changed and what did the team do differently as a result?
Invite frontline staff and patient partners to contribute, including people whose experience differed from the majority. Useful questions include:
- What helped the team understand the problem?
- Which changes were practical, and under what conditions?
- What created additional work or unintended consequences?
- Where did data, access, resources or communication limit progress?
- What should another team keep, adapt or avoid?
Make the lesson specific. “Communication matters” is difficult to act on. “Cover staff missed the preparation instructions because they were only discussed at the weekly meeting; include them in induction and the room guide” gives the next team something usable.
3. Write a concise QI project close-out report
The report should be understandable without attending the project meetings. A practical structure is:
- Problem and setting: who was affected, where and why the work mattered.
- Aim and scope: the intended result, deadline and any agreed revisions.
- Team and involvement: the roles of staff, patients and sponsors.
- Changes tested: the main tests and how learning altered the approach.
- Measurement: definitions, sources, collection period and analysis method.
- Results: outcome, process and balancing evidence, with charts and relevant feedback.
- Interpretation and limitations: what the evidence supports and what remains uncertain.
- Handover and next steps: owners, monitoring, outstanding actions and follow-up.
- Closure decision: status, reason, date and the agreed approval or acceptance.
For a report intended for scholarly publication, consult the SQUIRE 2.0 reporting guidelines and the publication’s requirements. An internal close-out report can be shorter, while still explaining the context, methods, results and limitations.
Healthcare example: reporting an outpatient project honestly
This is an illustrative reporting scenario, not a customer outcome.
An outpatient team has tested a room-readiness checklist to address delays before consultations.
Its close-out report would state the actual waiting-time results and dates, show preparation completion and balancing measures, and describe the staffing and sessions covered. It would not substitute the project’s target for an achieved result.
If follow-up only covers a short period, the report should say that long-term sustainment has not yet been demonstrated. If some timestamps are missing, it should quantify the gap and explain how records were handled. If other scheduling changes happened at the same time, it should acknowledge their possible contribution.
The report could then set out the clinic manager’s ownership of the agreed preparation process, where the current instructions are kept and when the next performance review will occur. Any proposal to use the checklist in another clinic would be a separate test-and-adaptation decision.
4. Complete the handover for ongoing work
Where a change will continue, use the implementation and sustainment plan to confirm:
- A named operational owner has accepted responsibility.
- The current process and supporting documents are accessible.
- Training, cover arrangements and ongoing resources are agreed.
- Measures have an owner and a review schedule.
- There is a clear response route for deterioration or other concerns.
- Remaining actions have owners and dates.
Ask the receiving owner to confirm the handover rather than treating an emailed document as acceptance. If there is no owner for an essential task, resolve or escalate that gap before describing the handover as complete.
5. Close stopped or inconclusive projects clearly
If the change will not continue, explain why. The approach may be unsuitable, the evidence may remain inconclusive or a necessary resource may no longer be available.
Record what should stop, what needs to return to the previous arrangement and who will handle any residual actions. Preserve useful learning, including the conditions that would need to change before the idea was reconsidered.
A stopped project should not be relabelled successful to make the record look better. Equally, a project that did not meet its aim may still have produced valuable knowledge for the service.
6. Store the evidence and share the learning
Keep the final report, measure definitions, charts, test records and handover together in the agreed project location. Use clear titles and dates so another colleague can find the final version.
Apply your organisation’s access and retention arrangements to the underlying data. Share an appropriate summary rather than including identifiable patient information in a general learning report.
Update the project’s status through the local process after the closure decision. Archiving a record is an administrative step; it does not replace the review or remove ongoing responsibilities.
Send the relevant learning back to contributors and receiving teams. Thank people for specific contributions, including identifying problems and documenting unsuccessful tests.
QI project close-out checklist
- Results reviewed against the aim, with limitations stated.
- Final report and supporting evidence stored together.
- Patient and staff learning captured.
- Operational ownership and monitoring accepted where changes continue.
- Outstanding actions assigned or explicitly transferred.
- Closure status, reason and date agreed.
- Learning shared and any follow-up review scheduled.
Download the QI close-out report and handover template for an editable Word document and completed healthcare example to help you record results, share learning and agree ongoing ownership.
Frequently asked questions
Can we close a QI project that did not achieve its aim?
Yes, when the decision is agreed and the results, reasons and remaining responsibilities are recorded. Closure should accurately reflect whether the project was completed, stopped or transferred.
Does closing a project mean stopping measurement?
No. Ongoing monitoring may transfer to the operational owner. Agree what continues, who reviews it and what happens if performance changes.
Who should approve project closure?
Follow the organisation’s process, involving the sponsor and the person accepting ongoing responsibility. Make the decision and handover visible to the project team.
Keep the learning available for the next project
Explore Simana’s project management tools for organising improvement work and its evidence. Return to the QI project hub to use the complete series, or start the next cycle of work by selecting the right QI project idea.
