Continuous Improvement
What is Continuous Improvement?
Continuous improvement, also known as continual improvement, refers to the ongoing practice of making small, intentional changes to processes, systems, or services to enhance performance and efficiency over time. Instead of relying on one major overhaul, this approach favors ongoing, targeted adjustments based on observation and feedback. Applied across sectors such as healthcare, education, manufacturing, and technology, continuous improvement helps organizations boost efficiency, maintain quality, and adapt to evolving needs.
The Basic Idea
Picture a walk-in clinic where things feel… smooth. The waiting room isn’t backed up. Staff know where to be and when. Patients don’t have to ask twice where the bathroom is or whether someone will call them in. That kind of flow doesn’t happen by luck. It happens when small issues are noticed, then quickly resolved.
Continuous improvement is the thinking behind those tweaks. It’s the practice of spotting inefficiencies, however small, and making adjustments that build over time.1 Maybe the administrator notices that pediatric visits tend to run long, so the calendar gets reshaped to reflect reality. If intake forms keep coming back with missing information, the questions are rewritten. When the cabinet holding sample containers turns out to be a hallway too far from the restroom, it’s moved beside the door.
Each of these shifts is modest, and no single change transforms the system. However, together, these choices reduce waste, prevent delays, and support the people doing the work.
The strength of continuous improvement lies in its orientation. Instead of asking what’s broken, it asks what could run better. Over time, teams stop asking What went wrong? and begin asking How can we do this better?
You’ll find continuous improvement approaches being implemented in hospitals, schools, factories, and corporate offices—anywhere where daily routines affect real people and small problems can slow things down. In these settings, even minor issues like missing supplies or unclear instructions can escalate quickly. The goal of continuous improvement is to resolve them early, so that operations run smoothly without draining time, creating confusion, or burning out the people doing the work.
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”
— Vincent van Gogh, Dutch Post-Impressionist painter
About the Author
Maryam Sorkhou
Maryam holds an Honours BSc in Psychology from the University of Toronto and is currently completing her PhD in Medical Science at the same institution. She studies how sex and gender interact with mental health and substance use, using neurobiological and behavioural approaches. Passionate about blending neuroscience, psychology, and public health, she works toward solutions that center marginalized populations and elevate voices that are often left out of mainstream science.
