Physical Therapy Joins the Movement
By Susan Carr
This year’s annual conference of the American Physical Therapy Association’s Massachusetts chapter (APTAMA) focused on a microcosm of issues in healthcare improvement: value, collaboration, measurement, and spread. After hearing Alan M. Jette, PT, PhD, FAPTA, deliver the keynote address, “System Thinking to Thrive in a Changing Health Care Environment,” I participated on a panel that included Jette in a discussion of the issues he raised.
Leaders in physical therapy are working hard to inspire practicing physical therapists (PT) to pursue improvement efforts within their profession, in healthcare more broadly, and with consumers directly. Leaders such as Jette and Mary Duffy Zupkus, PT, MPA, president of the APTAMA (and—full disclosure—my PT), believe that physical therapy offers unique opportunities to advance healthcare delivery and must reposition itself as a profession in order to survive the new demands of the healthcare marketplace. The enthusiasm and savvy of those who attended the conference, presented on the panel, and asked insightful questions were reminders that important stakeholders continue to join the improvement movement.
Personal Candor and the Practice of Medicine
Caring for patients is fraught with hazards and risks. As physicians, every time we approach the bedside we bring the potential for benefit and the possibility of harm. Benevolent intentions do not guarantee safe and effective care or highest-quality outcomes. Problems with our systems and processes of care, as well as personal lapses, often result in preventable and even death.
Is Your Facility Bugged?
There are bugs and then there are bugs. Hospitals have long fought against the invisible bugs, bacteria and viruses, but they often overlook the larger kinds such as flies and bedbugs. Environmental services must keep both in mind as they strive to make a facility safe. To maintain the best environment for patient and staff … Continued
Improving Diagnosis: Challenges and Opportunities
Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, a new report by the Institute of Medicine, inspired artists at VisualDx to produce the infographic shown below. VisualDx is a widely used web-based clinical tool used to enhance diagnostic accuracy, aid therapeutic decisions, and improve patient safety. Art Papier, MD, co-founder and CEO of VisualDx, is a member of the board of the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine, which petitioned the IOM to produce the report.
Overcoming Barriers on the Way to Evidence-Based Practice
Although nurses and physicians support evidence-based care in principle, barriers to adoption include resistance from colleagues, nurse leaders, and physicians and more than one-half of physicians do not use available guidelines
ABQAURP News
Some hospitals use McKesson’s InterQual admission criteria; some use MCG (formerly Milliman). Some managed care plans use InterQual, and some use MCG. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has said it and its contractors may refer to either InterQual or MCG, but they don’t recognize either as the deciding factor in establishing payment.
Integrating Quality Into Medical School Curriculum: One Student’s Perspective
By Anne Press
The traditional medical school curriculum has a heavy scientific focus, especially in the first two years. In an already jam-packed curriculum, it can be difficult to replace any of the materials with improvement science. To combat this, Hofstra-North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine launched—with the school’s inaugural class in 2011—a four-year curriculum in patient safety, quality, and effectiveness. The following is an example of the impact this curriculum had on me, a student in that first class.
As I sat through a lecture on biochemical pathways and the pathology that can cause diseases like cystic fibrosis (CF), I was enthralled by the mechanisms of the human body. However, the human element of the disease was missing from the lecture. I was unable to take what I was learning and apply it to actual patients, in real-life settings, and understand how it affected their care.
Process Improvements in the ED increase sepsis bundle compliance, reduce mortality
By improving compliance with the sepsis three-hour bundle, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center reduced patient mortality by 50% in just 90 days Effectively treating any infection requires a certain measure of early identification and rapid response. Infections, by their nature, worsen over time, so hospitals with successful care processes that rapidly identify and treat infections often see … Continued
The Emory Experience: Quality Improvement Skills Labs in Interdisciplinary Education
By Ariadne K. DeSimone In spring 2014, one day after taking my Step 2 Clinical Knowledge of the United States Medical Licensure Examination (USMLE), 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 … Continued
Patient and Family Advisory Councils
Patient and family advisory councils (PFAC) are groups of patients, family members, community members, and hospital staff who work together to bring the unique perspectives of patients and families to a hospital’s operations, especially its efforts to improve care. According to one estimate, more than 2,000 hospitals in the United States have PFACs. They are also slowly becoming more common in outpatient settings.