IHI Webinar: Who’s Conversation Ready? How Health Care Can Respect End-of-Life Wishes - October 24, 2013

The Institute for Health Care Improvement (IHI) is engaged in two initiatives to reduce confusion and improve circumstances surrounding end-of-life care. The Conversation Project is a grassroots effort to encourage discussions regarding end-of-life care with friends and loved ones long before a medical crisis occurs. The second initiative, Conversation Ready, is designed to capture how healthcare organizations can effectively respect and respond to end-of-life care wishes. Ten healthcare organizations have been working with IHI to share and refine their best practices in this area. Their efforts will be shared during the  “Who’s Conversation Ready? How Health Care Can Respect End-of-Life Wishes” webinar on October 24, 2013, 2:00-3:00 p.m. EST. 

The webinar will feature presentations from several of the organizations, including a program that designates a “conversation nurse” to ensure the goals and preferences of patients and families stay at the forefront of end-of-life care discussions, and a program that incorporates these preferences into electronic medical records. Participants will also be able to share what their own organizations are doing around end-of-life care issues. Free registration for the webinar is available by clicking here.

An INQRI study, Nursing's Specific Contributions to Quality Palliative Care within the Context of Interdisciplinary Intensive Care Practice, explored the relationships between quality palliative nursing care delivered in intensive care units (ICUs) and patient and family outcomes. The study also explored how to measure and to improve these outcomes. This interdisciplinary team was led by Lissi Hansen and Richard Mularski.

New IHI Expeditions Announced

Here is a list of the current Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Expeditions that are open for enrollment. An Expedition is a topic-specific, action-focused web program, lasting three to five months, that is designed to help front-line teams make rapid improvements in key areas. 

Impacting Hand Hygiene at the Frontline — Begins July 30
More hand washing leads to fewer infections. Learn the latest ideas and methods around surveillance, monitoring, measurement, education, and changing culture in this six-part Expedition.

Treating Sepsis in the Emergency Department and Beyond — Begins September 12
Learn the latest guidelines from the Surviving Sepsis campaign as well as proven strategies for the early detection and management of sepsis from our expert faculty in this six-part series.

Improving Care for Frail Older Adults with Complex Needs — Begins October 1
Build the foundation of an effective, affordable, and efficient care plan for frail elders with this five-part, web-based program. You’ll learn to build relationships and connections to make sure that seniors receive great care everywhere in your community.

IHI Soliciting Abstracts for Scientific Symposium

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is soliciting abstracts for presentation at their 19th Annual Scientific Symposium on Improving the Quality and Value of Health Care. The Scientific Symposium is an all-day event during the IHI National Forum on Monday, December 9, 2013, in Orlando, FL.

The purpose of the Scientific Symposium is to attract the very best work in the field of health and health care improvement. This event is ideal for anyone interested in applying scientific methods to improvement in health care. Ideal abstract submissions may include results of studies that apply innovation, testing, or implementation to improve health or health care at a local, regional, or national scale. The IHI is also looking for analytic, time-series, statistical process control, qualitative, and mixed-method studies. In general, we're interested in method or measurement development work that aims to advance the field.

Abstracts are due September 15.

Newly Released IHI Video Focuses on QI Forums

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) recently released this new video focuses on the quality improvement lessons shared during their National Forums on Quality Improvement in Health Care.



Click here to learn about this year's event.

Modern Healthcare Names Top 25 Women in Healthcare

RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey and Mary Wakefield, an INQRI grantee and current administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration are among Modern Healthcare's Top 25 Women in Healthcare in 2013.

U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder and IHI President and CEO Maureen Bisognano are also among the remarkable and accomplished women on this list.

WIHI Event: No Excuses, No Slack! The Latest from the Front Lines on Hand Hygiene

The upcoming WIHI event,  "No Excuses, No Slack! The Latest from the Front Lines on Hand Hygiene" will be held March 7 from 2:00 – 3:00 PM ET and will focus on the importance of good hand hygiene in the prevention of infections.

As IHI points out in the promotion for this event, "among the biggest contributors to hospital-acquired infections are, inadvertently, health professionals themselves... and others who come in contact with patients."  During the live event, participants will have the opportunity to hear about increased awareness of this issue and compliance with strict hand hygiene requirements.

INQRI researchers David Thompson and Jill Marsteller appreciate the goals of this session. The goal of their INQRI-funded work was to implement a comprehensive safety program including an evidence based intervention to reduce central line-associated blood stream infections while examining the context of nursing care delivery on patient outcomes. The team conducted the first randomized-control trial to reduce central line associated blood stream infections among ICU patients. This study, conducted in ICUs in 12 states, has shown that substantial reductions in infections can be widely achieved and this project did so with nurses leading the infection control efforts. Their study builds on the well-known work of Dr. Peter Pronovost, creator of the line insertion “checklist.” Hospitals that followed the components of their ICU safety program (which included a focus on hand washing), and adopted a safety improvement environment that fostered nurse involvement in quality improvement efforts, reduced, and in some cases completely eliminated, bloodstream infections for several months at a time. Their research is also showing that higher nurse turnover is related to higher infection rates.

Click here to enroll in the "No Excuses, No Slack" event.

Click here to learn more about the Thompson-Marsteller study and access publications from this work. 

IHI Event: Improvement Skills for Tomorrow’s Health Care: The Experts’ Perspective

Quality improvement (QI) in health care was started by small group of innovative pioneers who had a vision for a vastly improved system. Things have changed since those early days; safety and quality benchmarks are often integrated into strategic goals and there is more focus on patient-centered care. But the journey isn’t over yet. Patients still experience needless harm and often struggle to have their voices heard, processes are not as efficient as they could be, and costs continue to rise at alarming rates while quality flat lines.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) invites you to join these experts at a new seminar called Improvement Skills for Tomorrow’s Health Care: The Experts’ Perspective. This intensive two-day seminar will cover a myriad of topics including: inspiring front-line staff, engaging patients in improvement, how to implement proven QI tools, how to spread and scale improvement, and much more. You will leave this engaging seminar with an improvement framework for your organization that builds on the past while focusing on the future.

April 30 - May 1, 2013
Cambridge, MA

Click here to enroll.

IHI Event on Reducing Readmissions

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has worked with states, communities, hospitals, and community-based organizations across the country to help them improve the quality and safety of patient transitions and reduce the number of avoidable readmissions. Now, to help your organization handle this demanding work, IHI is again offering its seminar Reducing Avoidable Readmissions by Improving Transitions in Care on March 26–27, 2013, in Chicago, IL.

Click here to learn about INQRI work and other blog posts regarding the reduction of readmissions.

Next WIHI on Jan. 10: Navigating New Care Teams with Nurse Practitioners

WIHI is kicking off the new year, on January 10 (2p-3pET), with a show on Navigating New Care Teams with Nurse Practitioners. Discussion will explore how nurse practitioners or advanced practice nurses are being deployed and woven into new, interdisciplinary, team-based delivery designs. The participating guides are four individuals who are engaged in both pioneering and common-sense solutions to patient needs in ways that match the right caregivers with the right patients and the right needs.

At the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Susan Hassmiller has a bird’s eye view of where and how nurses across the US are contributing at the top of their education and training; Cathy Rick, at the VA, is overseeing the implementation of a new national strategic plan to better align nursing services with new systems of care for some six million veterans who use the VHA; Patricia Gerrity directs a nurse-managed community health center in North Philadelphia; and, in addressing the health needs of teenagers, physician Daryl Lynch has created deep and effective collaborations with nurse practitioners.

There are challenges to getting the care team right, and disagreements over roles and functions. But as you’ll learn from the guests on the January 10 WIHI, there’s also a new spirit of forging ahead given the growing emphasis on primary care in a rapidly reforming health care system.

Please click here to enroll.

WIHI Event on the Elections

The next WIHI event will be held this Friday, October 12, 2012 from 1pm-2pmET.  "Navigating the Elections with a Clear-Eyed View" will be presented by Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, former President and CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement; former Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Chris Jennings, President, Jennings Policy Strategies (Washington, DC); Former Senior Health Care Advisor (Domestic Policy & National Economic Councils) to President Bill Clinton.

Click here to enroll for the session.

Reducing Avoidable Readmissions

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is offering a second Reducing Avoidable Readmissions by Improving Transitions in Care seminar on October 18-19 in Boston, MA.

Participants will learn practical, tangible steps to improve patient transitions between the hospital, home, and other points of care. Discussion will focus on how to develop more effective and reliable discharge plans, and how to increase post-discharge support within the community.

Click here to view the agenda.
For more information about this seminar, or to enroll, please visit www.IHI.org.

Click here to read about an INQRI project focused on nurses' role in reducing readmissions.

Upcoming IHI Seminar: Rethinking Critical Care: Reducing Patient Harm from Sedation, Immobility, and Delirium

On May 15th and 16th, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement will be hosting a symposium in San Diego, CA addressing critical care and cutting edge ICU practices aimed at improving care for elderly patients. The symposium will specifically focus on innovative ways for health care practitioners to monitor patient sedation, immobility, and delirium. Since these areas of care are strong predictors of length of stay, increased morbidity and mortality, long-term cognitive impairment, and high cost of care, this symposium offers a great way for health care practitioners to expand their skill-set and improve the quality of care they deliver.

Click here to read more about this upcoming symposium.

WIHI Free Audio Event on Thursday, Sept. 22, Focuses on Medication Management

This upcoming Thursday, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) hosts another WIHI free audio program that focuses on managing medication shortages during a crisis. This event will feature: Frank Federico from the IHI, Michael Cohen from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, and Lynn Eschenbacher from WakeMed Health & Hospitals. These individuals are pharmacy-trained improvers who've tapped their medication safety expertise to help hospital staff effectively manage crisis situations.

Click here to register for the event.

Click here to read other blogposts relating to medication management.

WIHI Free Audio Event Today

Later today, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement will be hosting one of their WIHI free audio events, "Always Events^®: Raising Expectations for Patient Experience​". This event will start promptly at 2pm EST and will feature the following presenters:

Lucile O. Hanscom, Executive Director, Picker Institute

Dale Shaller, MPA, Principal, Shaller Consulting Group

Martha Hayward, Lead for Public-Patient Engagement, Institute for Healthcare Improvementl;

Gaye Smith, Chief Patient Experience and Service Officer, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Anthony M. DiGioia, MD, Founder, The Orthopaedic Program and Innovation Center, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC

Click here to register for the event.

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Don't Forget to Register for the IHI's Next Audio Event: "Always Events®: Raising Expectations for Patient Experience​"

Next week, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) will be hosting a free audio event on September 8th, 2-3pm EST titled, "Always Events^®: Raising Expectations for Patient Experience". This event is designed to introduce the public to one of the most innovative health concepts developed in the last few years by Picker Institute, Always Events^®. First conceived in 2009, Always Events^® are activities and processes that should routinely be part of patient care and the patient and family experience, to ensure optimal communication, discharge, handoffs, transitions, health literacy, and more.

Distinguished professionals participating in the audio program include:

• Lucile O. Hanscom, Executive Director, Picker Institute
  
  
• Dale Shaller, MPA, Principal, Shaller Consulting Group
  
  
• Martha Hayward, Lead for Public-Patient Engagement, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
  
  
• Gaye Smith, Chief Patient Experience and Service Officer, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
  
  
• Anthony M. DiGioia, MD, Founder, The Orthopaedic Program and Innovation Center, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC
  
  

Click here to register for the free audio event.

IHI's 23rd Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care

Once a year, nearly 6,000 health care professionals from around the world take on the hard questions of quality improvement and change the picture of health care. They present, debate, challenge, learn, share, question, and network.

Join the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) for the 23rd Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care, taking place from December 4-7, 2011, in Orlando, FL.

IHI is now accepting storyboard proposals for presentation at the Forum. Click here to view the storyboard handbook. Please click here to access the storyboard application. The deadline to submit a storyboard proposal is Friday, September 30, 2011.

WIHI Session: Palliative Care = Quality Care

This week, WIHI's "talk show" will focus on Jennifer Temel's article on palliative care from last August's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. The session will discuss Temel's research and the impact her work has had on clinicians.

Palliative Care = Quality Care
Thursday, April 21, 2011, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Eastern Time

 

Guests:

• Jennifer Temel, MD, Director, Fellowship Program at Massachusetts General Hospital; Clinical Director, Thoracic Oncology, MGH; Assistant Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School
• Daniel Ray, MD, Fellowship Director, Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Lehigh Valley Health Network
• Allan Ramsay, MD, Medical Director, Palliative Care Service, Fletcher Allen Health Care; Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Family Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine

 To enroll, please click here.

INQRI is committed to the delivery of high quality patient care, including palliative care. In fact, our researchers at Oregon Health Science University are currently examining nursing's contributions to quality palliative care. Very little is known about the relationships between quality palliative nursing care delivered in intensive care units (ICUs) and patient and family outcomes or how to measure and improve these outcomes. Led by Lissi Hansen, Ph.D., R.N. and Richard Mularski, M.D., an interdisciplinary team of researchers will identify the role that nurses play in the delivery of high quality palliative care provided both to patients and their families. The team will be presenting their findings at the upcoming annual INQRI meeting in July.

IHI Triple Aim Seminar

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) invites you to learn how to be an effective partner in your own community by enrolling in the IHI Triple Aim seminar on April 14-15, 2011, in Boston, MA. During this seminar, you will learn a road map for achieving the IHI Triple Aim — better care for individuals, better health for populations, and lower per capita costs — at your organization.

This seminar is ideal for change agents working in the following types of organizations:

• Integrated delivery systems
• Government agencies and state initiatives
• Health plans
• Social service organizations
• Employer-based health systems
• Business groups on health
• Safety net health care organizations
• Other organizations with the will and capability to fulfill the IHI Triple Aim

Click here to enroll and to learn about the IHI Triple Aim work in which various types of organizations are already involved.

Check Out Tomorrow's Edition of WIHI: "The Patient Activist"

"The Patient Activist"
Thursday, December 16, 2010, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Eastern Time

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement recently held it's first summit on patient activism in Orlando, Florida, with about 50 patient activist leaders.  Learn about the ways that summit participants considered combining forces to improve healthcare.

Guests:

• Bill Thatcher, Executive Director, Cautious Patient Foundation
• Barbara Balik, RN, EdD, Senior Faculty, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
• Tricia Pil, MD, Medical Writer, University Health Sciences Project Coordinator, Patient Activist
• Charles Maclean, PhD, Founder, PhilanthropyNow

Click here for free registration.

WIHI is an exciting "talk show" program from IHI, connecting you to the cutting edge of health care improvement. It’s free, it’s timely, and it’s designed to help dedicated legions of health care improvers worldwide keep up with some of the freshest and most robust thinking and strategies for improving patient care. A 60-minute program is offered live every other week, or you can listen to recordings of the broadcast later at your convenience. WIHI is your opportunity to meet up with colleagues who want to improve patient care and shape a true health reform agenda.

WIHI Session: Nursing’s New Roadmap: Education, the Workforce, and Health Care Quality

Thursday, November 18, 2010, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Eastern Time

The next WIHI session offered by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement features nursing leaders discussing the recommendations from the Initiative on the Future of Nursing report and a focus on developing the scope of knowledge which will allow nurses to take on more challenging roles.

Click here to register for this free event.

Guests:

Donna Shalala, PhD, former US Secretary of Health and Human Services; President, University of Miami; Chair, Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, Institute of Medicine

Linda Burnes Bolton, DrPH, RN, FAAN, Vice President for Nursing and Chief Nursing Officer, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; Vice Chair, IOM Committee on the Future of Nursing

Patricia Benner, RN, PhD, FAAN, Senior Scholar, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; Author, Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation and From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Nursing