Hospital Peer Review – March 1, 2019
March 1, 2019
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Cultivate Relationship With Board for Better Support of Quality Improvement
Quality professionals often wish for more support from the board of the hospital or health system — the kind of top-tier backing that can drive a quality improvement initiative to success. Such support requires a good relationship with the board, and that often requires quality professionals to take the first steps. -
Boards Moving From Financial Focus to Include Quality Concerns
The current increased focus on quality and the willingness of hospital boards to back quality initiatives are results of a long progression from a darker era in U.S. healthcare, says a board member who has seen the before and after. -
IHI Offers Resources on Integrating Quality Into Hospital Boards
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in Boston offers several resources to help quality improvement professionals cultivate better working relationships with hospital and health system boards. -
Board Focuses on Horizon, QI Watches for Icebergs
Quality professionals should help board members understand the overall quality goals of the organization and not necessarily get too bogged down in the minutia, according to a Press Ganey white paper on the hospital board’s role in quality improvement. -
Tips for Better Board Engagement Include Transparency, Brevity
The best relationships with hospital boards come from building trust and keeping them informed, say those who work closely with board members. -
Quick Wins Bring Improvement for Little Money or Time
Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, MD, has seen success with a number of quick wins that leaders there say could be implemented at other facilities or inspire other quality professionals to find their own small but meaningful changes. -
Focus on Women and Children Brings Certification, Recognition
St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, WA, recently was certified as a Baby-Friendly hospital, which is a World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund initiative designed to encourage breast-feeding. Leaders there say the achievements that led to the certification could be duplicated at other hospitals seeking to improve maternal quality of care. -
Breast-feeding as Standard Practice
The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative is premised on the idea that quality healthcare requires actively promoting breast-feeding. -
Optima Health Applies SDOH With Nutrition Programs, Mobile Healthcare
Social determinants of health (SDOH) continue to influence quality improvement efforts across the healthcare system, with a Virginia health plan and health system using the data to improve nutrition and even provide mobile vans to take services into the community.