Welcome to the Quality Improvement Home Page
The WikiHealthCare Quality Improvement forum is a collaborative network for health care professionals, researchers, and other health care stakeholders. Within this forum, you can freely exchange information, describe your implementation experiences and create and share performance improvement solutions. Although the forum is sponsored by
The Joint Commission, the content developed here belongs to you and all of the contributing users. Think of it as your own professional network -- a network that allows you to dialogue with the nation's leading health care researchers and thousands of health care providers that are interested in improving health care quality.
Note: If you are new to the site, you may want watch a demonstration and read the topics What is WikiHealthCare? and How do I use WikiHealthCare?
New Field Reports (Real-World Examples of Quality Improvement Initiatives)
- Improvement in Discharge Instructions - Beaufort Memorial Hospital improved CHF Discharge Instructions for Core Measures relying solely on nursing staff to a sophisticated electronic methodology.
- CHF compliance - Made improvements (10th lower percentile to top 25) by having Case Mgt insert physician CHF progress forms in chart. The forms have all the core measure triggers. Utilize computerized discharge instructions that automatically include ACEI and ARB and medication info.
- Pneumonia O2 assessment - Improvement made by making oxygen saturation a mandatory vital sign. Pulse oximetry machines were added to vital sign machines on the nursing floors.
- ACEI/ARB Compliance - Maintaining nearly 100 compliance. Utilizing various redundant processes to trigger information needed and to capture acceptable contraindications.
- Improvement in Oxygenation Assessment - Oxygenation Assessment was added as a 5th vital sign for all admissions. In order to improve compliance new vital sign machines were purchased. The new machines have Oxygenation Assessment capabilities. To offset the cost of the new machines, a request was made to the auxiliary. They graciously purchased at least one machine for each nursing unit. Education was completed on the use and the purpose of the new machines. The education process emphasized the importance of oxygenation assessment. Compliance data is posted on each unit quarterly. Case Management reviews all pneumonia admissions for documentation of the assessment.
- Pneumovac Success - PMC - In 2003, our Pneumococcal Vaccination rates were unacceptable at only 2. With our process improvement strategies implemented, we have been successful in bringing those rates up to an average of 98.1 for the period from July 2006 through March of 2008. Our current rate for the first quarter 2008 is at 100. The key was initially getting physician buy-in to our process and then initiating training for all the nursing staff.
- Enhancing Services for College Students: Using BASICS for High Risk Drinkiers - The focus of this program is to provide alcohol screening and intervention to mandated UMass Amherst undergraduat students using the BASICS modality.
- University of Hartford SBI - The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), is funding the University of Delaware $374,529.32 per year for 3 years to implement Project OASIS (Outreach and Action for Student Improvement Services). This program is a collaboration between the University of Hartford and Connecticut Renaissance, Inc. to provide substance abuse intervention to students, ages 18 to 22, the majority of whom are referred by the University's Judicial Office.
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About the Quality Improvement Web
The forum is currently part of a
pilot project, and its development is funded, in part, through a research grant from the
Smoking Cessation Leadership Center at the University of California, San Francisco. Although the site is being pilot tested, it is functional, so users are encouraged to contribute. Feel free to add text, edit existing text, and make comments. If you have a suggestion that may improve the organization of the site, or if you identify an unmet need (i.e., "This is great, but you know what would be really useful..."), let us know:
Suggestion Box.
When in doubt, participate. Take chances. Make edits. Don't worry about the details, and don't be intimidated if you are not sure how to do something. So feel free to contribute your ideas and clean up the formatting later. Watch your fellow users build upon your ideas (and clean up any "mistakes").
One final note: For some users, the notion of "freely" participating on a website that is sponsored by The Joint Commission may create some anxiety. This is understandable, but be assured that your participation within this collaborative forum has
NO impact upon your organization's accreditation status (as indicated in the final paragraph of the
Disclaimer). All users participate as individuals, not as representatives of their organization.
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