38 Improving Access to Outpatient Services for Older People Using A Clinical Microsystems Approach

Background Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides services to more than 500,000 residents in the North-East of England across multiple sites. Local problem Outpatient services for older people across Northumbria include specialist (eg falls) and generic clinics with differing referral routes, demands and waiting times. Referrals derive from primary care, emergency services and elsewhere; some are complex patients requiring a comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA). Existing pathways led to variable waits for clinics, duplication and delays. Aim was to improve the timeliness, efficiency and access to appropriate assessment first time. Methods We adopted a Clinical Microsystems approach (Sheffield Microsystems Coaching Academy) for improvement. Main components were team coaching, weekly “Big Room” meeting of involved staff to share understanding of current process, agree change ideas, and test these with multiple plan, do, study, act (PDSA) cycles. Impacts of each PDSA cycle were discussed in Big Room, leading to refinement of the pathway. Interventions Results: PDSA interventions were tested over 6 months: Development of a single triage systemCGA clinic for frail older patients.Development of shared documentation for CGA.Improved cycle and lead times for assessment Conclusions Our quality improvement work supported the development and implementation of a new referral triage process with CGA assessment for complex frail patients. The change has reduced patient wait times, provided early intervention and reduced duplication. Work is ongoing to determine impact on patient satisfaction and time to discharge from clinic. The approach taken by this project could be applied elsewhere to improve outpatient referral processes.

An evaluation of the clinical microsystems approach in general practice quality improvement

Background: Changes to the general practice (GP) contract in England (April 2019) introduced a new quality improvement (QI) domain. The clinical microsystems programme is an approach to QI with limited evidence in primary care. Aim: To explore experiences of GP staff participating in a clinical microsystems programme. Design and setting: GPs within one clinical commissioning group (CCG) in South East England. Normalisation process theory informed qualitative approach. Method: Review of all CCG clinical microsystems projects using pre-existing data. The Diffusion of Innovation Cycle was used to inform the sampling frame and GPs were invited to participate in interviews or focus groups. Ten practices participated; 11 coaches and 16 staff were interviewed. Results: The majority of projects were process-driven activities related to administrative systems. Projects directly related to health outputs were fewer and related to externally imposed targets. Four key elements facilitated practices to engage: feeling in control; receiving enhanced service payment; having a senior staff member championing the approach; and good practice–coach relationship. There appeared to be three key benefits in addition to project-specific ones: improved working relationships between CCG and practice; more cohesive practice team; and time to reflect. Conclusion: Small projects with clear parameters were more successful than larger ones or those spanning organisations. However, there was little evidence suggesting the key benefits were unique attributes of the microsystems approach and sustainability was problematic. Future research should focus on cross-organisational approaches to QI and identify what, if any, added value the approach provides.

Risk and resolutive capacity in the transmedia clinical technology platform

This article presents in detail a reflection on the design of health organizations and the problems arising from the incongruence between the incorporation of technology and the specialized personnel, which affects the resolution capacity. Therefore, it is necessary to understand both the value chain like the collective imaginary about risk, safety, clinical microsystems and clinical management, in an environment of increasing informational intensity, not only in processes but also in sociality built from digital networks. The results are derived from two Research Projects carried out on Colombian Hospitals in which the Clinical Engineering Group participated. The document is composed of nine parts: history of clinical engineering, problems of duality in the complexity declared by hospitals and problems associated with digital transmedia clinic; Problems of duality in the complexity declared by the Institutions providing services (IPS); Problems associated with medical devices in highly complex hospitals; Collective imaginary and devices; risk; Technology and security; Organizational knowledge and learning; Transmedia clinical technology platform; Value chain and full resolution capability; concluding with: clinical microsystems and clinical management.

Learning from a clinical microsystems quality improvement initiative to promote integrated care across a falls care pathway

Aim To identify learning from a clinical microsystems (CMS) quality improvement initiative to develop a more integrated service across a falls care pathway spanning community and hospital services. Background Falls present a major challenge to healthcare providers internationally as populations age. A review of the falls care pathway in Sheffield, United Kingdom, identified that pathway implementation was constrained by inconsistent co-ordination and integration at the hospital–community interface. Approach The initiative utilised the CMS quality improvement approach and comprised three phases. Phase 1 focussed on developing a climate for change through engaging stakeholders across the existing pathway and coaching frontline teams operating as microsystems in quality improvement. Phase 2 involved initiating change by working at the mesosystem level to identify priorities for improvement and undertake tests of change. Phase 3 engaged decision makers at the macrosystem level from across the wider pathway in achieving change identified in earlier phases of the initiative. Findings The initiative was successful in delivering change in relation to key aspects of the pathway, engaging frontline staff and decision makers from different services within the pathway, and in building quality improvement capability within the workforce. Viewing the pathway as a series of interrelated CMS enabled stakeholders to understand the complex nature of the pathway and to target key areas for change. Particular challenges encountered arose from organisational reconfiguration and cross-boundary working. Conclusion CMS quality improvement methodology may be a useful approach to promoting integration across a care pathway. Using a CMS approach contributed towards clinical and professional integration of some aspects of the service. Recognition of the pathway operating at meso- and macrosystem levels fostered wider stakeholder engagement with the potential of improving integration of care across a range of health and care providers involved in the pathway.

A Clinic to Improve Care of Patients with Sickle Cell Disease and the Role of Medical Students in Quality Improvement

Background: At Hofstra-North Shore LIJ School of Medicine, we have opportunities for our medical students to participate in experiential quality improvement projects. As part of this initiative, some students participate on health-care improvement teams using a Clinical Microsystems approach. This approach is a conceptual framework that has been applied to various departments in the North Shore-LIJ Health System in order to improve quality and patient safety. The basis of Clinical Microsystems is to identify a need in the hospital that may be targeted in order to improve the efficacy of healthcare quality and delivery. Once the objective for healthcare improvement is determined, a multidisciplinary team is created spanning one or more microsystems to target the specific barrier. One of the multidisciplinary teams focuses on the care of patients with sickle cell disease. LIJ Hospital admits between 150 and 200 patients with sickle cell disease a year primarily due to recurrent pain crises. The initial sickle cell multidisciplinary improvement team included physicians, patients, nurses, social workers and two medical students. The role of the students on this team included literature searches and survey administration. The team's initial analysis found that a lack of consistent outpatient follow up was resulting in frequent readmissions for this population to acute care facilities for pain control. To address this, the team was instrumental in establishing a primary care outpatient clinic focused exclusively on caring for patients with sickle cell disease, run by a primary care physician, in 2012. The current study was conducted by a medical student, and her mentor, who were original members of the sickle cell improvement team. The study tested the hypothesis that enrolling patients with sickle cell disease in an outpatient clinic with a dedicated physician focused on sickle cell disease management and pain control would decrease the number of admissions this population has for acute care at LIJ. The study also highlights the opportunity to involve medical students in a meaningful way in hands-on quality improvement projects in the early stages of training. Methods: This was a retrospective study of all adults with sickle cell disease, 21 years or older, who were seen at the primary care outpatient sickle cell clinic. We compared the rates of hospital admissions and length of stay in the one-year prior and one-year after their establishment of care at the clinic. All data was identified through manual and automated searches of the Electronic Health Record. Results: Since the opening of the clinic in 2012, 107 adults established care at the clinic. Within the first year that a patient began being cared for by the clinic, their admission rate dropped 27%, from an average of 3.775 to 2.75 admissions per year (p=0.0003). There were a total of 151 admissions one-year pre-intervention and 110 admissions one-year post-intervention. Conclusion: This project supports the value of a dedicated primary care outpatient sickle cell clinic on decreasing the admission rates for patients with sickle cell disease. Within one year of establishing care at the clinic, admissions rates decreased significantly, emphasizing the role of dedicated outpatient primary care in the management of patients with sickle cell disease. This study also highlights the importance and feasibility of integrating medical students into a quality improvement project early on during medical school. There are opportunities for students to have meaningful roles on hospital based improvement projects and learn quality improvement methodologies. An important component to this success is faculty mentoring to support a student's involvement in the project. The student involved in this study experientially participated in multidisciplinary team-based rapid cycles of change, process mapping, data collection and analysis. Similar projects could offer students an opportunity to participate during medical school in a longitudinal quality improvement project to develop skills they will need as physicians to identify, participate and measure the effects of improvement efforts. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.