Table 1.

Adaptive Design: a model to improve adaptation and adoption of patient safety practices

	Process	Participatory Design (PD)	Experiential Learning (EL)	Adaptive Design (AD)
Process characteristics	Adaptation/ Adoption	Adoption	Adaptation	Adoption & Adaptation
	Orientation	Product	Process	Product & Process
	Design/ learning cycles	Structured & Iterative	Unstructured & iterative	Semi-structured & iterative
	Knowledge	Objective	Subjective Created & recreated	Objective & Subjective Created & recreated
	End-product	Final	Final (uncertain)	Provisional
Design process	Process Steps	Design Test Evaluate Redesign	Learn Experience Reflect & Learn Act	Design & Learn Test & Experience Evaluate, Reflect & Learn Redesign & Act
	User participation	Small, ad hoc end-user group	End-users randomly chosen from designated group	All end-users from designated group
	Influence	Limited	No pre-set limits	Adaptable within pre-set limits
	Acceptance	Early adoption	Adoption varies between end-users or user groups	Early adoption by small group, increasingly adopted by more users, eventually by all end-users
	Learning	Participating end-user group	Individuals & teams from designated users	All users from designated group: individual, team & organisation
	End-product	One for all end-users	Might be different between end-users (user groups)	Provisional per user group, subject to change over time