Quality improvement in melanoma care: Multidisciplinary quality program development and comparison of care before and after implementation

BACKGROUND: Pediatric patients immobilized for certain procedures, such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), are at high risk for developing hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs). PURPOSE: To evaluate the rate of HAPI occurrence in ECMO patients before and after implementation of prevention interventions. METHODS: Patients younger than 18 years of age who were placed on ECMO from January 2012 through March 2020 were identified, and patient data, including the development of a stage 3, 4, or unstageable pressure injuries, were abstracted. From August 2018 through December 2018, HAPI prevention interventions were implemented, which included targeted HAPI prevention and ECMO provider education, fluidized positioner provider education, and the addition of 2 wound care interventions for ECMO patients. RESULTS: Of the 120 ECMO patients identified, 5 (4.2%) developed a HAPI. All patients developed HAPI in the occipital region, and 1 patient developed an additional HAPI on their back. The median age of patients with HAPI was 1 month (interquartile range [IQR], 0.3–6.8 months). The median duration from ECMO cannulation to identification of HAPI was 9.5 days (IQR, 4.8–32.3 days). The median total run time was 4.9 days (IQR, 2.5-7.6 days): 8.5 days for patients who did develop a HAPI and 4.8 days for those who did not develop a HAPI (P = .02). The overall HAPI rate dropped from 4.8% of ECMO patients before quality improvement interventions to 0% of ECMO patients after quality improvement interventions. CONCLUSIONS: The development of stage 3, 4, or unstageable HAPIs in pediatric ECMO patients was low (4.2%) over the period studied (January 2012 through March 2020). As of the time of this writing, no HAPIs occurred after implementation of provider education in 2018.

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Abstract 8: Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Program Participation and Clinical Outcomes for Medicare Beneficiaries

Circulation Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes ◽

10.1161/circoutcomes.6.suppl_1.a8 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 6 (suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

Sarah Song ◽

Gregg Fonarow ◽

Wenqin Pan ◽

DaiWai Olson ◽

Adrian F Hernandez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Improvement ◽

Ischemic Stroke ◽

Clinical Outcomes ◽

Early Period ◽

Quality Improvement Program ◽

Administrative Claims ◽

Improvement Program ◽

All Cause Mortality ◽

Before And After ◽

Get With The Guidelines

Background: Get With The Guidelines (GWTG)-Stroke is a national, hospital-based quality improvement program developed by the American Heart Association. While studies have shown a beneficial effect of hospital participation in GWTG-Stroke upon processes of care, whether there are associated improvements in clinical outcomes has not been previously investigated. Methods: From among all acute care US hospitals, we matched 366 hospitals that joined the GWTG-Stroke program between April 2004 and December 2007, with 366 hospitals that did not. Matching was based on ischemic stroke case volume, calendar year, baseline hospital post-stroke 1-year all-cause mortality rates, teaching status, and geographic region. Outcomes of all acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients admitted to the study hospitals were abstracted from the CMS administrative claims database (65 years and older). Outcomes at matched hospitals were compared in the PRE-GWTG-Stroke period (-540 to -181 days before program launch), RUN-UP period (-180- to -1 day), EARLY period (0 to 180 days) and SUSTAINED period (181 to 540 days). Additional analysis was performed of the entire BEFORE (-540 to -1 days) and AFTER periods (0 to 540 days). The main analytical approach was stratified Cox proportional hazard modeling, with matched site ID at stratum. We adjusted for patient characteristics (age, gender, race, medical history) and hospital characteristics (rural vs. urban, # beds, annual IS discharges.) Results: The study analyzed 88,584 AIS admissions at the 366 GWTG-Stroke hospitals and 85,401 admissions at the 366 matched non-GWTG-Stroke hospitals. In adjusted analysis comparing BEFORE and AFTER periods, GWTG-Stroke hospitals achieved reduced 30 day mortality (30M - HR 0.911, p<0.0001), reduced 1 year mortality (1YM - HR 0.902, p<0.0001), reduced 30 day all-cause rehospitalization (HR 0.956, p=0.013), reduced 30 day stroke rehospitalization (HR 0.927, p=0.038), and reduced 1 year all-cause rehospitalization (HR 0.972, p=0.007). Conversely, matched, non-GWTG-Stroke hospitals showed only reduced 30M (HR 0.954, p=0.010) between the BEFORE and AFTER periods. Comparing the degree of change at GWTG-Stroke with non-GWTG Stroke hospitals, there were greater improvements in discharge to home (DCH), 30M, and 1YM at GWTG-Stroke hospitals in each of the intervention periods: EARLY: DCH, HR 1.090, p<0.0001; 30M, HR 0.894, p=0.0006; 1YM, HR 0.889, p<0.0001; SUSTAINED: DCH, HR 1.097, p<0.0001; 30M, HR 0.934, p=0.004; 1YM, HR 0.918, p<0.0001. Conclusions: Hospitals joining the GWTG-Stroke quality improvement program between 2004-2008 achieved significantly greater improvement in stroke patient outcomes than matched hospitals not joining the program, with lower all-cause mortality at 30 days and 1 year and higher rates of discharge directly to home.

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Integration of Early Palliative Care in Oncology Patients: Improving Nursing Knowledge and Confidence

10.28971/532019hj118 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Jacqueline Hurteau

Keyword(s):

Palliative Care ◽

Quality Improvement ◽

Nursing Education ◽

Program Development ◽

Quality Improvement Project ◽

Improvement Project ◽

Early Palliative Care ◽

Early Implementation ◽

Oncology Care ◽

Nurses Knowledge

Palliative care integrated with standard oncology care in cancer patients has been shown to provide a number of beneficial clinical outcomes. Despite the evidence, the utilization of palliative care in the oncology population continues to be inadequate. The purpose of this program development, quality improvement project was to improve nurses’ knowledge regarding palliative care and the benefits of its early implementation in the oncology population, as well as to improve their confidence regarding palliative care consultations to providers. An educational intervention was designed and a pre and posttest were utilized to determine the effect of the intervention. This program development, quality improvement project demonstrated that the implementation of nursing education regarding palliative care within the oncology population increased nurses’ knowledge in palliative care, specific to the oncology population, as well as confidence in recommending appropriate palliative care consultations to providers.

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Effectiveness of Probiotic for Primary Prevention of Clostridium difficile Infection: A Single-Center Before-and-After Quality Improvement Intervention at a Tertiary-Care Medical Center

Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology ◽

10.1017/ice.2018.76 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 39 (07) ◽

pp. 765-770 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

William E. Trick ◽

Stephen J. Sokalski ◽

Stuart Johnson ◽

Kristen L. Bunnell ◽

Joseph Levato ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Improvement ◽

Primary Prevention ◽

Clostridium Difficile ◽

Incidence Rate ◽

Tertiary Care ◽

Prophylactic Antibiotic ◽

Quality Improvement Intervention ◽

Tertiary Care Medical Center ◽

Before And After ◽

Improvement Intervention

OBJECTIVETo evaluate probiotics for the primary prevention of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) among hospital inpatients.DESIGNA before-and-after quality improvement intervention comparing 12-month baseline and intervention periods.SETTINGA 694-bed teaching hospital.INTERVENTIONWe administered a multispecies probiotic comprising L. acidophilus (CL1285), L. casei (LBC80R), and L. rhamnosus (CLR2) to eligible antibiotic recipients within 12 hours of initial antibiotic receipt through 5 days after final dose. We excluded (1) all patients on neonatal, pediatric and oncology wards; (2) all individuals receiving perioperative prophylactic antibiotic recipients; (3) all those restricted from oral intake; and (4) those with pancreatitis, leukopenia, or posttransplant. We defined CDI by symptoms plus C. difficile toxin detection by polymerase chain reaction. Our primary outcome was hospital-onset CDI incidence on eligible hospital units, analyzed using segmented regression.RESULTSThe study included 251 CDI episodes among 360,016 patient days during the baseline and intervention periods, and the incidence rate was 7.0 per 10,000 patient days. The incidence rate was similar during baseline and intervention periods (6.9 vs 7.0 per 10,000 patient days; P=.95). However, compared to the first 6 months of the intervention, we detected a significant decrease in CDI during the final 6 months (incidence rate ratio, 0.6; 95% confidence interval, 0.4–0.9; P=.009). Testing intensity remained stable between the baseline and intervention periods: 19% versus 20% of stools tested were C. difficile positive by PCR, respectively. From medical record reviews, only 26% of eligible patients received a probiotic per the protocol.CONCLUSIONSDespite poor adherence to the protocol, there was a reduction in the incidence of CDI during the intervention, which was delayed ~6 months after introducing probiotic for primary prevention.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2018;765–770

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Reducing the Contamination Rate and the Unnecessary Requesting of Blood Culture Test through Quality Improvement Project

10.51429/ejmm30111 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 30 (1) ◽

pp. 87-91

Author(s):

Tamer Mohamed ◽

Ashraf A Askar ◽

Jamila Chahed

Keyword(s):

Quality Improvement ◽

Blood Culture ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Blood Cultures ◽

Quality Improvement Project ◽

Contamination Rate ◽

Improvement Project ◽

Culture Test ◽

Negative Results ◽

Before And After

Background: Blood stream infections are major leading causes of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. Increasing the awareness of the clinicians and nurses about the proper protocol of blood culture test is very important in reducing the contamination rate and the unnecessary requesting of blood culture. Objectives: to reduce the contamination rate and the unnecessary requesting of blood culture from different departments through implementation of hospital wide Quality Improvement Project (QIP). Methodology: Blood cultures were tested in the Microbiology Laboratory of Najran Armed Forces hospital, Saudi Arabia, in the period from June 2019 to July 2020 and their results were compared before and after the implementation of the QIP. Results: The comparison between the blood cultures results before and after QIP implementation showed statistically significant (19.6%) reduction in the contamination rate, (14%) reduction in the total number of blood culture requests and (11.6%) reduction in the negative results rate. Conclusion: The reduction in the total number, negative results and contamination rate of blood culture test after QIP implementation were considered as performance indicators that the recommendations of QIP were effective and implemented strictly.

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Early Mobility for Critically Ill Patients: Building Staff Commitment Through Appreciative Inquiry

Critical Care Nurse ◽

10.4037/ccn2020251 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 40 (4) ◽

pp. 66-72

Author(s):

Michelle M. Fernald ◽

Nicholas A. Smyrnios ◽

Joan Vitello

Keyword(s):

Quality Improvement ◽

Critically Ill ◽

Appreciative Inquiry ◽

Critically Ill Patients ◽

Staff Members ◽

Before And After ◽

Trained Facilitator ◽

Improvement Method ◽

And Performance ◽

Staff Commitment

Background Immobility contributes to many adverse effects in critically ill patients. Early progressive mobility can mitigate these negative sequelae but is not widely implemented. Appreciative inquiry is a quality improvement method/change philosophy that builds on what works well in an organization. Objectives To explore whether appreciative inquiry would reinvigorate an early progressive mobility initiative in a medical intensive care unit and improve and sustain staff commitment to providing regular mobility therapy at the bedside. Secondary goals were to add to the literature about appreciative inquiry in health care and to determine whether it can be adapted to critical care. Methods Staff participated in appreciative inquiry workshops, which were conducted by a trained facilitator and structured with the appreciative inquiry 4-D cycle. Staff members’ attitudes toward and knowledge of early progressive mobility were evaluated before and after the workshops. Performance of early progressive mobility activities was recorded before and 3 and 10 months after the workshops. Results Sixty-seven participants completed the program. They rated the workshops as successfully helping them to understand the importance of early progressive mobility (98%), explain their responsibility to improve patient outcomes (98%), and engender a greater commitment to patients and the organization (96%). Regarding mobility treatments, at 3 months orders had improved from 62% to 88%; documentation, from 52% to 89%; and observation, from 39% to 87%. These improvements were maintained at 10 months. Conclusion Participation in the workshops improved the staff’s attitude toward and performance of mobility treatments. Appreciative inquiry may provide an adjunct to problem-based quality improvement techniques.

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P023: Code Resus - using a quality improvement approach to improve health care provider response during resuscitations

CJEM ◽

10.1017/cem.2016.199 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 18 (S1) ◽

pp. S86-S86

Author(s):

L.B. Chartier ◽

S. Hansen ◽

D. Lim ◽

S. Yi ◽

B. McGovern ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Quality Improvement ◽

Health Care Providers ◽

Rating Scale ◽

Tertiary Care ◽

Care Hospital ◽

Care Providers ◽

Change Initiatives ◽

Chi Square ◽

Before And After

Introduction: In order to achieve the best possible outcomes for patients requiring resuscitation (PRRs) in the emergency department (ED), health care providers (HCPs) must provide an efficient, multi-disciplinary and coordinated response. A quality improvement (QI) project was undertaken to improve HCP response to PRRs at two tertiary care hospital EDs in Toronto. Methods: We conducted a before-and-after mixed-method survey to evaluate the perception of the adequacy of HCP response and clarity of HCP role when responding to PRRs. The results were compared using the Chi-square test. Qualitative responses to the first survey were also used to inform the development of the QI project. Through interviews of key stakeholders and with continuous input from front-line ED HCPs, a multi-disciplinary team modified the ED resuscitation protocol. This included standardized pre-hospital communication form with paramedics, ED-wide overhead announcement of ‘Code Resus’, dedicated HCPs assigned to respond to PRRs, and specific duties assigned to each responder. Change initiatives were reinforced through education and posters in the ED. Six months after implementation, a second survey was conducted to evaluate the sustained effects of the intervention. Results: Baseline measures indicated that 16 of 52 (30.8%) nurses surveyed believed their role was often or always apparent to themselves and others when they attended to a PRR (on a 5-point rating scale). This proportion increased to 35 of 55 (63.6%) nurses in the post-implementation survey (p < 0.001). Regarding adequacy of the number of HCPs responding to PRRs, 17 of 39 (43.6%) physicians and 23 of 53 (43.4%) nurses surveyed thought the appropriate number of HCPs responded to PRRs; the remainder thought that there were too few or too many HCPs. In the post-implementation survey, 34 of 41 (82.9%) physicians (p < 0.001) and 36 of 56 (64.3%) nurses (p = 0.029) surveyed felt that the appropriate number of HCPs attended to PRRs. Conclusion: Using a quality improvement approach, we identified and quantified perceived deficiencies in HCP response to PRRs in the ED. Through feedback-based modifications of the ED resuscitation protocol and by engaging HCP stakeholders, change initiatives were implemented to improve HCP response. As a result, this project achieved significant and sustained improvements in HCPs’ perceived response to PRRs.

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Standardised mortality ratios as a user-friendly performance metric and trigger for quality improvement in a Flemish hospital network: multicentre retrospective study

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029857 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (9) ◽

pp. e029857

Author(s):

Wim Tambeur ◽

Pieter Stijnen ◽

Guy Vanden Boer ◽

Pieter Maertens ◽

Caroline Weltens ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Improvement ◽

Hospital Mortality ◽

Web Application ◽

Hospital Admissions ◽

Diagnosis Related Groups ◽

Medical Officer ◽

Custom Made ◽

Before And After ◽

R Shiny ◽

Concomitant Reduction

ObjectiveTo illustrate the development and use of standardised mortality rates (SMRs) as a trigger for quality improvement in a network of 27 hospitals.DesignThis research was a retrospective observational study. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. SMRs were calculated for All Patient Refined—Diagnosis-Related Groups (APR-DRGs) that reflect 80% of the Flemish hospital network mortality. Hospital mortality was modelled using logistic regression. The metrics were communicated to the member hospitals using a custom-made R-Shiny web application showing results at the level of the hospital, patient groups and individual patients. Experiences with the metric and strategies for improvement were shared in chief medical officer meetings organised by the Flemish hospital network.Setting27 Belgian hospitals.Participants1 198 717 hospital admissions for registration years 2009–2016.ResultsPatient gender, age, comorbidity as well as admission source and type were important predictors of mortality. Altogether the SMR models had a C-statistic of 88%, indicating good discriminatory capability. Seven out of ten APR-DRGs with the highest percentage of hospitals statistically significantly deviating from the benchmark involved malignancy. The custom-built web application and the trusted environment of the Flemish hospital network created an interoperable strategy to get to work with SMR findings. Use of the web application increased over time, with peaks before and after key discussion meetings within the Flemish hospital network. A concomitant reduction in crude mortality for the selected APR-DRGs from 6.7% in 2009 to 5.9% in 2016 was observed.ConclusionsThis study reported on the phased approach for introducing SMR reporting to trigger quality improvement. Prerequisites for the successful use of quality metrics in hospital benchmarks are a collaborative approach based on trust among the participants and a reporting platform that allows stakeholders to interpret and analyse the results at multiple levels.

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