Community Circles: Transforming Care in Downeast Maine
By Holly Gartmayer-DeYoung, BSN, MBA Each morning, Eastport, Maine, is the first city in the United States to see the sunrise. Among the contiguous United States, Eastport has the deepest natural harbor (Fallows, 2014), one that buzzed with industry and prosperity during the 19th century and well into the 20th. The city’s fortunes have largely … Continued
Health IT & Quality: Why Things Matter
By Barry P. Chaiken, MD, MPH Compared to automobiles made just a few years ago, new ones provide an amazing driving experience. Expanding beyond the CD changer and iPod® dongle, automobiles now integrate our smartphones and use voice recognition technology, allowing drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel. In addition to this … Continued
Using Automated Surveillance to Improve Diagnosis
By Tom Scaletta, MD, CPPS Every day, healthcare becomes more complex, and with that complexity comes a growing need to focus on reducing diagnostic errors. A recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Improving Diagnosis in Healthcare (Balogh, Miller, & Ball, 2015), estimates that 5% of adults seeking outpatient care experience a diagnostic error, while one … Continued
Weighing the Pros and Cons of Patient Safety Technology
Although some emerging technology promises a patient safety cure-all, hospitals need to evaluate clinician workflow before implementing new gadgets In the 21st century, technology offers a solution to just about any everyday problem. Don’t know that actor that just came onto your screen? Log onto the IMDB app. Need directions? Just type the address into … Continued
Move to Refine Quality Measures Gaining Momentum
By Tinker Ready, HealthLeaders Complaints about quality measures are as abundant as the measures themselves. But some doctors are doing something about it. They’re working to identify metrics that are “realistic and actually will have an impact on patient care.” Call it pushback, validation, or measurement science. The revolt against the volume and usefulness of outcomes … Continued
Improvement Interventions and the IOM Aims for Quality: STEEP-7
By Shea Polancich, PhD, RN; Terri Poe, DNP, RN; and Rebecca Miltner, PhD, RN
Healthcare organizations should be continuously looking for ways to improve the quality and safety of the care they provide. The current healthcare environment, however, is complex and constantly changing, making the quest for continuous improvement a challenge. In 2001, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report Crossing the Quality Chasm highlighted the gap that existed between the current and ideal state of the healthcare industry regarding the quality of patient care. This seminal work illuminated the need to provide care to patients with defined aims—namely, that patient care should be all of the following: safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable, and patient centered. A call to action ensued for providers in the industry to develop strategies for closing the quality chasm in care delivery in accordance with the IOM aims. Now, 15 years later, there are still opportunities to improve the quality and safety of the healthcare delivery system.
Simulation Techniques for Teaching Time-Outs: A Controlled Trial
Incorrect surgery and invasive procedures sometimes occur on the wrong patient, wrong side, or wrong site; are performed at the wrong level; use the wrong implant; or in some way represent a wrong procedure on the correct patient. Although rare, with a reported incidence of 1 in 112,994 cases, incorrect invasive procedures have potentially disastrous consequences for patients, staff, and healthcare organizations (Dillon, 2008). Patients suffer preventable harm, staff may be censured and emotionally traumatized, and healthcare organizations experience a loss of public reputation and trust.
Health IT & Quality: Precision Requires FHIR
By Barry P. Chaiken, MD, MPH On January 20, 2016, President Barack Obama celebrated the one-year anniversary of his announcement of the Precision Medicine Initiative. The initiative, first announced in the president’s 2015 State of the Union address, initially included $215 million in research funding (“Precision Medicine Initiative,” n.d.). Most medical treatments are designed to … Continued
Education: Interdisciplinary Skills Labs for Quality Improvement
By Ariadne K. DeSimone
In spring 2014, one day after taking the United States Medical Licensure Examination: Step 2 Clinical Knowledge, I finally had time to turn my attention to thoughts about my future and to the email messages that had accumulated over the past month. One announcement stood out: the Emory University Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Open School Chapter was seeking applications for its leadership team. With plans to begin the master of public health (MPH) in health policy and management program at the end of the summer, between my third and fourth years of medical school, I was searching for extracurricular opportunities that would complement my studies. In that moment, as I read the email solicitation, I took a leap of faith. I had never heard of IHI, yet within a week I had applied, interviewed, and accepted a position as director of education for Emory’s Chapter of IHI Open School. I was compelled to act so spontaneously by what I understood to be the vision, mission, and approach of IHI: to work with health systems and other organizations around the world to improve healthcare quality, safety, and value.
I-PASS and SBAR Handoff Tools Have Proven Benefits
Communication failures continue to plague patient care. Experts weigh in on why nearly one-third of malpractice claims involve a communication failure, leading to significant patient harm For nearly two decades, communication failures have been frequently attributed to harmful events in healthcare. Judging by a new report looking at malpractice claims, those problems aren’t getting any … Continued