Virtual learning web site leads the VA to success
August 1, 2001 3 minutes read
Virtual learning web site leads the VA to success
It doesn’t surprise Victor S. Wahby, MD, PhD, director of the Veterans Health Administration’s office of special projects in Washington, DC — part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) — that every day brings at least one new idea for health system and facility improvement.
He predicted his idea to tap into the power among the more than 182,000 employees in 172 hospitals, 134 nursing homes, and more than 500 clinics would be a success when he launched his web site four years ago. Now he gets submissions not just from those employees, but from health care workers in other facilities as far away as Spain, Canada, and Pakistan.
Now about 30 of those lessons are being published in a compendium, the third to be printed, for VA facilities to have access to at any time. "We use a storytelling format where leaders tell a story about a situation, usually a crisis, how he or she dealt with the situation and the lesson learned," explains Wahby.
The past two editions have included sections on lessons of the month and the lesson of the year. But Wahby decided not to publish in that format this time. "It implies the others aren’t as good," he says. "I don’t think it should be called best practices either. Just better practices. We can always do better."
For those outside the VA system who want access to some of those valuable lessons, the Lesson’s Learned web site, called the Virtual Learning Center, is still up, running, and collecting more ideas (www.va.gov/vlc).
Collecting ideas from around the country
It started, in part to, help bring good ideas from across the vastness of the VA to one place. And the idea was a hit from the start. "We had hundreds of ideas come in during that first year or so," Wahby says. "Now the pace has slowed, but I think the quality of the lessons is higher. People consider a little more carefully before they submit them." There are about 1,100 lessons available for the public, at large, to look at, as well as another 200 or so that are only available on the intranet.
"There are so few large organizations that share ideas like this," Wahby says. The military is one example, but in health care, "they are pretty nonexistent. There is the Best Practices Network [www.best4health.org] and the Joint Commission [on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations] has some [information] available based on incidents. I would love to have some sort of consortium where we could call a meeting and really get people learning lessons from others and comparing notes."
Because he has spoken about the Virtual Learning Center to other organizations, Wahby says he knows there is a great deal of interest in mimicking what the VA has done elsewhere. "I was on a panel recently with a guy from the [American Medical Association], and he would love to take [the idea] back [to his organization]."
This year, the web site has started collecting information from visitors on whether they implemented an idea, how much time or money was saved, and how they measured the impact on quality of care. "We want this to be evidence-based," he says. "Starting next year, we hope to have some really good data on this."
The Veterans Administration in general — and VA health facilities in particular — doesn’t have the best reputation, Wahby says. "But we are turning that around. We lead the nation in patient safety, and no one can touch our Lessons Learned program."
[For more information, contact:
• Victor S. Wahby, MD, PhD, Director, VHA Office of Special Projects, 50 Irving St. N.W., Washington, DC 20422. Telephone: (202) 745-2200.]
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