View improvement tools from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and other resources. You can browse the tools by topic, using the menu below.
CATS Poster for Surgical Site Infection Intervention
This visual aid was developed to remind and educate caregivers, staff, patients, and families about the elements of the "CATS" interventions to decrease surgical site infections:
(Source: Health Services Advisory Group, Inc., the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Arizona)
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Central Line Insertion Care Team Checklist
This series of steps to reduce the risk of infection during central line insertion has been shown to be effective in hospitals around the country.
(Source: Johns Hopkins Health System)
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Chart Stickers for Surgery Patients
The chart sticker is designed to be utilized not only as a reminder of key clinical guidelines in the care of surgery patients within certain populations, but also to serve as a concurrent checklist during the patient's stay. The stickers address timing, selection, and duration for antimicrobial prophylaxis.
(Source: Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care)
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Chasing Zero--Winning the War on Healthcare Harm
This documentary--which will be distributed to all U.S. hospitals--urges health care providers to reach for "zero" instances of preventable harm.
(Source: TMIT)
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CLABSI Opportunity Estimator
This tool estimates yearly number of deaths, dollars, and ICU days attributable to CLABSIs within an ICU, hospital, or health system--as well as potential lives saved and savings from reducing such infections.
(Source: The Johns Hopkins Quality and Safety Research Group)
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Closing the Quality Gap Evidence Report Summaries
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has developed free summaries of the evidence in support of eight different quality improvement strategies: bundled payments; patient-centered medical homes; addressing health disparities; medication adherence; public reporting; prevention of health care–associated infections; measuring outcomes for the disabled; and improving health care and palliative care for advanced illness.
(Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)
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Getting to Zero--Strategies to Eliminate Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections
Listen to the presentations and dicussion and view the slides from this Commonwealth Fund webinar featuring Lucian L. Leape, M.D., adjunct professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health; Peter J. Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D., director, Johns Hopkins University Quality and Safety Research Group; and Brian S. Koll, M.D., medical director and chief, infection prevention, Beth Israel Medical Center.
(Source: The Commonwealth Fund)
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Hospital-Acquired Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) Incidence Calculator
Use this calculator tool to estimate the number of hospital-acquired venous thromboembolism (VTE) at your hospital, and the proportion that are potentially preventable.
(Source: Society of Hospital Medicine)
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Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence
This guide contains 28 case studies targeting four improvement areas: health care-acquired infections, medication management, patient throughput, and patient safety. Each case study detail show a problem related to one of the four areas manifested in a particular hospital, how the hospital chose to fix the problem and the outcomes of the implemented strategy.
(Source: American Hospital Association)
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How-to Guide--Improving Hand Hygiene
The guide includes: A description of the case for improving hand hygiene and use of gloves among health care workers; Recommended evidence-based interventions that will result in improvement; How to begin improving hand hygiene compliance in your organization, including establishing a team, setting aims, testing changes, and measuring results; Measurement support tools.
(Source: Institute for Healthcare Improvement (in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, and the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America))
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Implementing the Ventilator Bundle
The key components of the Ventilator Bundle are: Elevation of the Head of the Bed; Daily "Sedation Vacations" and Assessment of Readiness to Extubate; Peptic Ulcer Disease Prophylaxis; Deep Venous Thrombosis Prophylaxis.
(Source: Institute for Healthcare Improvement)
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Infection Prevention Plus Measures Toolkit
The purpose of this toolkit is to make references, product information and associated tools readily accessible, in order to support infection prevention and control staff in the implementation of interventions that are in addition to the IHI infection prevention bundle measures.
(Source: Kaiser Permanente)
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MRSA Screening Policy and Procedure
This Infection Control Policy provides instructions for conducting patient screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and details procedures for managing positive MRSA cultures.
(Source: St John's Regional Health Center)
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Sample Business Case for Reducing Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia
This document provides a sample business case for reducing ventilator-associated pneumonia.
(Source: Safe & Sound: An Arizona patient safety initiative through the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association)
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Sentinel Event Data
Data on sentinel events reported to the Joint Commission from their accredited organizations, searchable by event type and root causes.
(Source: The Joint Commission)
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Surgical Infection Prevention Poster
This poster was developed to assist bedside clinicians to better understand and to remember the quality measures associated with decreasing surgical site infections. The poster displays an acronym to help clinicians remember the steps to prevention.
(Source: Georgia Medical Care Foundation)
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Three-Bucket Tool to Prevent VTE
This tool enables providers to categorize patients into one of three groups, based on whether they are at low, moderate, or high risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE). It can be placed on an single order sheet and completed by a physician in seconds.
(Source: University of California San Diego Medical Center)
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Time Out--Checklist for Verification of Procedure, Side/Site, and Prophylactic Antibiotic
This checklist reminds surgeons to verify procedures, sites, and prophylatic antibiotics.
(Source: Primaris, the Medicare QIO for Missouri)
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Understanding Patient Safety, Second Edition
The new edition of this reference delivers key insights to help you understand and prevent a broad range of errors, including those related to medication, surgery, diagnostics, nursing, and those made at the man-machine interface. You will also find a practical overview on how to implement an effective safety program in both hospital and ambulatory settings. It includes issues related to: information technology, measurement, checklists, and policy.
(Source: Robert Wachter, M.D., University of California, San Francisco)
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