{"title":"Call for Reviewers.","authors":"","doi":"10.1097/01.QMH.0000945040.56877.16","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/01.QMH.0000945040.56877.16","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":20986,"journal":{"name":"Quality Management in Health Care","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49692210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Elizabeth K Stierman, Barbara T O'Brien, Julie Stagg, Elizabeth Ouk, Natanya Alon, Lilly D Engineer, Camille A Fabiyi, Tasnuva M Liu, Emily Chew, Lauren E Benishek, Brenda Harding, Raymond G Terhorst, Asad Latif, Sean M Berenholtz, Kamila B Mistry, Andreea A Creanga
{"title":"Statewide Perinatal Quality Improvement, Teamwork, and Communication Activities in Oklahoma and Texas.","authors":"Elizabeth K Stierman, Barbara T O'Brien, Julie Stagg, Elizabeth Ouk, Natanya Alon, Lilly D Engineer, Camille A Fabiyi, Tasnuva M Liu, Emily Chew, Lauren E Benishek, Brenda Harding, Raymond G Terhorst, Asad Latif, Sean M Berenholtz, Kamila B Mistry, Andreea A Creanga","doi":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000407","DOIUrl":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000407","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and objective: </strong>The purpose of this study was to describe statewide perinatal quality improvement (QI) activities, specifically implementation of Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) patient safety bundles and use of teamwork and communication tools in obstetric units in Oklahoma and Texas.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In January-February 2020, we conducted a survey of AIM-enrolled hospitals in Oklahoma (n = 35) and Texas (n = 120) to gather data on obstetric unit organization and QI processes. Data were linked to hospital characteristics information from the 2019 American Hospital Association survey and hospitals' maternity levels of care from state agencies. We generated descriptive statistics for each state and created an index to summarize adoption of QI processes. We fitted linear regression models to examine how this index varied by hospital characteristics and self-reported ratings for patient safety and AIM bundle implementation.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Most obstetric units had standardized clinical processes for obstetric hemorrhage (94% Oklahoma; 97% Texas), massive transfusion (94% Oklahoma; 97% Texas), and severe hypertension in pregnancy (97% Oklahoma; 80% Texas); regularly conducted simulation drills for obstetric emergencies (89% Oklahoma; 92% Texas); had multidisciplinary QI committees (61% Oklahoma; 83% Texas); and conducted debriefs after major obstetric complications (45% Oklahoma; 86% Texas). Few obstetric units offered recent staff training on teamwork and communication to their staff (6% Oklahoma; 22% Texas); those who did were more likely to employ specific strategies to facilitate communication, escalate concerns, and manage staff conflicts. Overall, adoption of QI processes was significantly higher in hospitals in urban than rural areas, teaching than nonteaching, offering higher levels of maternity care, with more staff per shift, and greater delivery volume (all P < .05). The QI adoption index scores were strongly associated with respondents' ratings for patient safety and implementation of maternal safety bundles (both P < .001).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Adoption of QI processes varies across obstetric units in Oklahoma and Texas, with implications for implementing future perinatal QI initiatives. Notably, findings highlight the need to reinforce support for rural obstetric units, which often face greater barriers to implementing patient safety and QI processes than urban units.</p>","PeriodicalId":20986,"journal":{"name":"Quality Management in Health Care","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10290572/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10062269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Optimizing Transfer of Postcesarean Patients to Postoperative Ward Through a Quality Improvement (QI) Project: Curtailing Delays, Improving Care.","authors":"Shilpi Nain, Manju Puri, Swati Agrawal, Darshana Kumari, Lylaja Satheesh, Ekta Chhillar, Poornima Sharma, Deepika Meena, Meenakshi Singh, Aishwarya Kapur","doi":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000388","DOIUrl":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000388","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and objectives: </strong>Close monitoring of patients in the first 2 hours after cesarean delivery (CD) is crucial. Delays in shifting of the post-CD patients led to a chaotic environment in the postoperative ward, suboptimal monitoring, and inadequate nursing care. Our aim was to increase the percentage of post-CD patients shifted from transfer trolley to bed within 10 minutes of arrival in the postoperative ward from a baseline of 64% to 100%, and to maintain that rate for more than 3 weeks.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A quality improvement team including physicians, nurses, and workers was constituted. Problem analysis revealed lack of communication among the caregivers as the main cause of delay. The percentage of post-CD patients shifted from trolley to bed within 10 minutes of being wheeled into the postoperative ward out of the total number of post-CD patients transferred from the operation theater to the postoperative ward was taken as the outcome indicator for the project. Multiple Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles based on the Point of Care Quality Improvement methodology were undertaken to achieve the target. Main interventions were: 1) written information of patient being transferred to operation theater for CD sent to the postoperative ward; 2) stationing of a duty doctor in the postoperative ward; and 3) keeping a buffer of 1 vacant bed in the postoperative ward. The data were plotted weekly as a dynamic time series chart and signals of change were observed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Eighty-three percent (172 out of 206) of women were shifted in time by 3 weeks. After Plan-Do-Study-Act 4, the percentages kept improving leading to a median shift from 85.6% to 100% after 10 weeks post-initiation of the project. Sustainment was confirmed by continuing observations for 6 more weeks to ensure that the changed protocol was assimilated in the system. We found that all women were shifted within 10 minutes of their arrival in postoperative ward from trolley to bed.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Providing high-quality care to patients must be a priority for all health care providers. High-quality care is timely, efficient, evidence based, and patient-centric. Delays in transfer of postoperative patients to the monitoring area can be detrimental. The point of Care Quality Improvement methodology is useful and effective in solving complex problems by understanding and fixing the various contributory factors one by one. Reorganization of processes and available manpower without any extra investment in terms of infrastructure and resources is pivotal for long term success of a quality improvement project.</p>","PeriodicalId":20986,"journal":{"name":"Quality Management in Health Care","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9678348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Julien Moyet, Baptiste Lesourd, Félix Bachelet, Orianne Delattre, Laure Domisse, Sanaa Hannat, Christian Defouilloy, Frédéric Bloch
{"title":"Impact of a Very Short-Stay Post-Emergency Geriatric Unit on Early Readmissions.","authors":"Julien Moyet, Baptiste Lesourd, Félix Bachelet, Orianne Delattre, Laure Domisse, Sanaa Hannat, Christian Defouilloy, Frédéric Bloch","doi":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000364","DOIUrl":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000364","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and objectives: </strong>In 2017, our French 1671-bed university hospital opened a 12-bed unit for very short stays, post-emergency (unit of transitory admission in geriatric [UTAG] area), dedicated to frail patients older than 75 years requiring short-term care. We sought to investigate whether this new organization's shortened length of stay (LOS) was associated or not with a higher rate of readmission.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a retrospective descriptive study based on the daily activity of the UTAG over 6 months including all patients consecutively hospitalized in the unit via the computerized medical file of the hospital. The data collected included the Rockwood score, the primary diagnoses, the LOS and any 1-month readmission.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>From August 2019 to January 2020, 646 older adult patients were hospitalized in the UTAG. Two-thirds of the hospitalized patients were women; the mean age of this population was 86.7 ± 6.2 years. The main causes of hospitalization were infectious pathologies (19.8%), falls and their consequences (17.3%), and cardiac pathologies (17.2%). The mean LOS was of 2.7 ± 2.0. Seventy readmissions were observed in the month after discharge. One-month readmissions were more frequent when patients had presented with acute heart failure and among nursing home residents.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The creation of the UTAG reduced LOS and so contributed to decreased iatrogenic disabilities without putting patients at increased risk of readmission. The development of cardiac and geriatric dedicated outpatient pathways and a community-based geriatric mobile team intervening in nursing homes could optimize the care of frail older adult patients and avoid readmissions.</p>","PeriodicalId":20986,"journal":{"name":"Quality Management in Health Care","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10033750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sara Morassaei, Levina B Kahumba, Brian Liszewski, Lisa Di Prospero
{"title":"Dedicated Research Seed Funding to Support High-Priority Clinician-Led Research: A Survey of Clinician-Researchers.","authors":"Sara Morassaei, Levina B Kahumba, Brian Liszewski, Lisa Di Prospero","doi":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000374","DOIUrl":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000374","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and objectives: </strong>Developing research capacity and supporting research engagement among health professionals are essential parts of bridging the evidence-to-practice gap. The objective of this study was to describe and assess the impact of research seed funding in promoting the engagement of nursing and allied health professionals in leading practice-based research studies within a health care organization.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>An impact assessment survey was administered to health professional grant recipients (n = 30) to collect self-reported observations of changes related to clinical practice, patient care, and organizational priorities as a result of the funded research projects. The electronic survey was developed in collaboration with an interprofessional advisory committee and contained 23 closed- and open-ended questions. Survey data were analyzed descriptively, and responses to open-ended survey questions were used to characterize the funded research activities and the perceived successes and challenges experienced by the research teams.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A large proportion of health professional grant recipients reported observing impact from their research studies on clinical practice, organizational priorities, and external networks. The grant funds were used to carry out knowledge dissemination activities such as conference presentations, publications, and sharing findings at professional meetings and networks. The majority of grant expenditures were used for research personnel, and the most common challenge to conducting research was related to the need for protected research time. Most grant recipients were interested in participating in another grant-funded research project in the future.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Organizational funding and support for research led by health professionals have potential impact on clinical practice, patient care, and organizational priorities. This study provides evidence to support the value of investing in continued and expanded research funding programs for health professionals.</p>","PeriodicalId":20986,"journal":{"name":"Quality Management in Health Care","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9731481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Information for Authors.","authors":"","doi":"10.1097/01.QMH.0000945032.81525.58","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/01.QMH.0000945032.81525.58","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":20986,"journal":{"name":"Quality Management in Health Care","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49692211","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jill Engel, Britt M Meyer, Gloria Alston McNeil, Tammi Hicks, Kalpana Bhandari, Daniel Hatch, Bradi B Granger, Staci S Reynolds
{"title":"A Quality Improvement Project to Decrease CLABSIs in Non-ICU Settings.","authors":"Jill Engel, Britt M Meyer, Gloria Alston McNeil, Tammi Hicks, Kalpana Bhandari, Daniel Hatch, Bradi B Granger, Staci S Reynolds","doi":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000375","DOIUrl":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000375","url":null,"abstract":"Background and Objectives: Central line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) are a common, preventable healthcare–associated infection. In our 3-hospital health system, CLABSI rates in non-intensive care unit (ICU) settings were above the internal target rate of zero. A robust quality improvement (QI) project to reduce non-ICU CLABSIs was undertaken by a team of Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)-prepared nurse leaders enrolled in a post-DNP Quality Implementation Scholars program and 2 QI experts. Based on a review of the literature and local root cause analyses, the QI team implemented the evidence-based practice of using 2% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) cloths for daily bathing for non-ICU patients with a central line. Methods: A pre-post-design was used for this QI study. CHG bathing was implemented using multifaceted educational strategies that included an e-learning module, printed educational materials, educational outreach, engagement of unit-based CLABSI champions, and an electronic reminder in the electronic health record. Generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to assess the change in CLABSI rates before and after implementation of CHG bathing. CLABSI rates were also tracked using statistical process control (SPC) charts to monitor stability over time. CHG bathing documentation compliance was audited as a process measure. These audit data were provided to unit-based leadership (nurse managers and clinical team leaders) on a monthly basis. A Qualtrics survey was also disseminated to nursing leadership to evaluate their satisfaction with the CHG bathing implementation processes. Results: Thirty-four non-ICU settings participated in the QI study, including general medical/surgical units and specialty areas (oncology, neurosciences, cardiac, orthopedic, and pediatrics). While the change in CLABSI rates after the intervention was not statistically significant (b = −0.35, P = .15), there was a clinically significant CLABSI rate reduction of 22.8%. Monitoring the SPC charts demonstrated that CLABSI rates remained stable after the intervention at all 3 hospitals as well as the health system. CHG bathing documentation compliance increased system-wide from 77% (January 2020) to 94% (February 2021). Overall, nurse leaders were satisfied with the CHG bathing implementation process. Conclusions: To sustain this practice change in non-ICU settings, booster sessions will be completed at least on an annual basis. This study provides further support for using CHG cloths for daily patient bathing in the non-ICU setting.","PeriodicalId":20986,"journal":{"name":"Quality Management in Health Care","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9675584","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Next-Gen Event Reporting Through Hero: A Surveillance System Designed for Culture Transformation and Improvement: A Surveillance System Designed for Culture Transformation and Improvement.","authors":"Eileen Kasda, Christine Robson, Lori Paine","doi":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000429","DOIUrl":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000429","url":null,"abstract":"After the influential 1999 Institute of Medicine Report, To Err Is Human, electronic patient safety event reporting systems became a popular means for health care organizations to identify and mitigate harm. Event reports are a critical data source in high-risk industries. However, current software-based reporting applications provide a poor user experience for both reporters and reviewers of events that lack necessary workflows and analytics to implement meaningful improvements.","PeriodicalId":20986,"journal":{"name":"Quality Management in Health Care","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9676790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yu-Li Huang, Bjorn P Berg, Jennifer L Horn, Darshan Nagaraju, David R Rushlow
{"title":"Balancing Clinician Workload Through Strategic Patient Panel Designs.","authors":"Yu-Li Huang, Bjorn P Berg, Jennifer L Horn, Darshan Nagaraju, David R Rushlow","doi":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000367","DOIUrl":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000367","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and objectives: </strong>Clinician workload is a key contributor to burnout and well-being as well as overtime and staff shortages, particularly in the primary care setting. Appointment volume is primarily driven by the size of patient panels assigned to clinicians. Thus, finding the most appropriate panel size for each clinician is essential to optimization of patient care.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>One year of appointment and panel data from the Department of Family Medicine were used to model the optimal panel size. The data consisted of 82 881 patients and 105 clinicians. This optimization-based modeling approach determines the panel size that maximizes clinician capacity while distributing heterogeneous appointment types among clinician groups with respect to their panel management time (PMT), which is the percent of clinic work.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The differences between consecutive PMT physician groups in total annual appointment volumes per clinician for the current practice range from 176 to 348. The optimization-based approach for the same PMT physician group results in having a range from 211 to 232 appointments, a relative reduction in variability of 88%. Similar workload balance gains are also observed for advanced practice clinicians and resident groups. These results show that the proposed approach significantly improves both patient and appointment workloads distributed among clinician groups.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Appropriate panel size has valuable implications for clinician well-being, patients' timely access to care, clinic and health system productivity, and the quality of care delivered. Results demonstrate substantial improvements with respect to balancing appointment workload across clinician types through strategic use of an optimization-based approach.</p>","PeriodicalId":20986,"journal":{"name":"Quality Management in Health Care","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10051358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reducing Unnecessary Complete Blood Count Ordering Through Education and Standardization: A Quality Improvement Initiative.","authors":"Veena R Gujju, Mahmood Khattab, Valerie Kastens, Ghayur Saeed, Sixia Chen, Mohamad Khattab","doi":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000387","DOIUrl":"10.1097/QMH.0000000000000387","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and objectives: </strong>The American Board of Internal Medicine's Choosing Wisely campaign recommends against ordering repetitive complete blood counts (CBC) in the face of clinical and laboratory stability.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Consecutive patients admitted to a teaching team were included. Intervention 1 was an educational lecture outlining costs of and indications for CBC ordering. Intervention 2 added a simplified algorithm to help providers determine the need for a daily CBC. The primary outcome measure was the number of CBCs ordered per number of patients per day. The secondary outcome measure was net cost saved. The process measures were lecture/poster and algorithm utilization rates. The balancing measure was emergency department visits/readmissions within 7 days of discharge. A statistical process control chart was generated to assess special cause variation. Using R software version 3.5.2, a 2-sample t test and Fisher exact test differences between groups in the outcome and balancing measures.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>One hundred ten patients were included over a 62-day period. The difference between the pre-intervention group and both interventions combined was significant ( P = .000317). Special cause variation was observed after institution of both interventions in conjunction. Net costs saved totaled $43 482. Emergency department visits/readmissions within 7 days were similar between the groups ( P = .1403).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Complete blood count ordering patterns and costs were improved through education and providing a decision support tool in the form of a simplified algorithm, without increasing 7-day emergency department visits/readmissions. The algorithm, far less detailed than that previously published, still resulted in significant improvement without unintended consequences, making for a safe and potentially sustainable intervention.</p>","PeriodicalId":20986,"journal":{"name":"Quality Management in Health Care","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9731482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}