Improvement Tools

A DVD, "Putting Quality into Practice: Physicians in Their Own Voices," features the perspectives of physicians who have adopted quality measurement and improvement tools. The doctors speak candidly about why they decided to measure their performance, and how the information empowered them to improve the care they provide to patients. (Source: The Commonwealth Fund)  — View Improvement Tool

The PRHI Readmission Briefs seek to answer questions about the use of readmission rates as a measure of the quality and efficiency of care. They address: 1. What is the "right" time frame for defining a potentially avoidable readmission? For how many days past discharge is a readmission potentially preventable, and how does this vary by condition? 2. To what extent are readmissions likely to be related to an initial admission and to what extent does this vary across diagnoses? 3. To what extent are readmissions within the domain of hospital control? 4. Are there patterns of admissions and readmissions that can help clinicians flag, and then prevent, unnecessary hospitalizations? (Source: Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative)  — View Improvement Tool

This document provides a framework for change to assist quality improvement teams using the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) collaborative methodology. It contains a charter, change package, and measurement strategy assimilated by the National Pneumonia Project with special input by the National Pneumonia Expert Panel and Qualis Health. (Source: Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality)  — View Improvement Tool

This program is an interactive tool to assist clinicians in determining the most appropriate care for newly diagnosed cases of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) at the point of care. It will help calculate the severity index of a pneumonia patient. The output includes mortality rates and pneumonia class types. Features include: 1) Application downloads for the Palm and Pocket PC 2) Installation instructions 3) Feedback and help. (Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)  — View Improvement Tool

This fact sheet guides a patient through the questions they should be asking their doctor and nurses about pneumonia. (Source: Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality)  — View Improvement Tool

This is a generic discharge instructions tool, which includes all important elements for patients with congestive heart failure. The tool is given to heart failure patients upon admission and used to document important general discharge instructions. (Source: Baystate Medical Center)  — View Improvement Tool

Used by hundreds of health care organizations in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Breakthrough Series, the Project Planning Form is a useful tool for planning an entire improvement project, including a listing of all of the changes that the team is testing, all of the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles for each change, the person responsible for each test of change, and the time frame for each test. The form allows a team to see at a glance the overall picture of the project (Source: Institute for Healthcare Improvement)  — View Improvement Tool

The Road Map for Quality Improvement: A Guide for Doctors presents the essentials of quality improvement in an brief and accessible format. Topics include: What is quality improvement? Why should physicians learn about quality improvement? Measurement Building an improvement team Testing changes and continuous quality improvement Transforming culture (Source: Manoj Jain, M.D., M.P.H., Infectious Disease PhysicianMemphis, Tennessee, USA)  — View Improvement Tool

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)  — View Improvement Tool

These in-depth self-assessment inventories provide detailed questions for interdisciplinary patient / family teams in hospitals and outpatient settings. They provide a way to assess patient- and family-centered care in a hospital, clinical area, or practice, and to develop a plan to advance the practice of patient- and family-centered care. (Source: Institute for Family-Centered Care)  — View Improvement Tool

Data on sentinel events reported to the Joint Commission from their accredited organizations, searchable by event type and root causes. (Source: The Joint Commission)  — View Improvement Tool

Informative materials to support smoking cessation for heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, and pneumonia projects. The packet includes infectious diseases chart sticker, documentation sticker, poster, pocket card, follow-up mailer and indicator logic. (Source: Primaris, QIO of Missouri)  — View Improvement Tool

Section One highlights four key changes to create of an ideal transition home and specifies changes that can be tested. Key references and links to resources are included.Section Two outlines a practical step-by-step sequence of activities to assist staff in testing and adapting many of the proposed changes described in Section One. Section Three includes a bibliography, annotated list of resources, and worksheets. Section Four includes case studies of two hospitals that implemented many of the key changes highlighted in this guide. (Source: Institute for Healthcare Improvement and The Commonwealth Fund)  — View Improvement Tool

This document provides information regarding current best programs and practices to reduce rehospitalizations. (Source: Institute for Healthcare Improvement and The Commonwealth Fund)  — View Improvement Tool

This document is a survey of the published literature regarding the effective interventions to reduce avoidable rehospitalizations. (Source: Institute for Healthcare Improvement and The Commonwealth Fund)  — View Improvement Tool

This video describes an approach taken in Washington State's Whatcom County--involving a hospital, the state's QIO, and community providers--to improve care transitions and avoid rehospitalizations. (Source: Qualis Health)  — View Improvement Tool

The toolkit contains downloadable resources, including a teaching video, video discussion guide, resource guide, and hospital self-assessment tool, to help hospitals become more patient- and family-focused in their care practices. (Source: American Hospital Association and Institute for Family-Centered Care)  — View Improvement Tool

This resource includes a video describing core concepts of patient- and family-centered care; a video discussion guide; a resource guide on how to advance such care within organizations, and a Hospital Self-Assessment Tool to evaluate the progress hospitals have made and identify opportunities for improvement. (Source: American Hospital Association and Institute for Family-Centered Care)  — View Improvement Tool

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)  — View Improvement Tool

This short video shows how clinicians at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh reduced door-to-balloon time to just under 70 minutes. (Source: Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative)  — View Improvement Tool