A model for improving quality in nephrology settings.

Continuous quality improvement (CQI) programs have been instituted in many health care organizations over the last decade. PDCA, a tool composed of planning (P), doing (D), checking (C), and acting (A), has proved to be very useful in the CQI problem-solving process. The use of the PDCA tool described in this article resulted in the successful resolution of a hepatitis B outbreak in a Brazilian hemodialysis population and can serve as a model methodology for improving care in nephrology settings.