Improvement work isn’t easy, especially when it attempts to address rising health care costs. Solid organ transplant coordinator Sharon Ugolini and her team led award-winning work implementing new protocols for common tests. That led to more than just reduced patient charges, though — ordering appropriate tests increases value and quality, as well.
In her five years at University of Utah Health as hospitalist, educator, and medical director of AIM-A and WP5, Karli Edholm led amazing amounts of impactful work. She trained future leaders and improved the safety, experience, and cost of an inpatient stay. Here she shares her lessons for leading and staying focused on improvement: start with your own frustration.
University of Utah Health’s success is driven by teams doing the right work for our patients — and sharing that work across the system. Chief Medical Quality Officer Bob Pendleton reflects on the universal importance of continuous improvement while looking at health care through the eyes of a patient.
The best stories move us deeply, striking an emotional and inspiring chord. Huntsman Cancer Institute director of nursing Sue Childress shared the following essay, first composed for a Huntsman writing group, and we loved the way it tied intimate insights gathered at the bedside with the positive transformation Sue was lucky to witness outside the hospital. Plus, you can’t go wrong with a pun as strong as “Freudian Slippers.”
Every Accelerate interview starts with “why” — what inspires and motivates us as individuals? Chief Medical Officer Tom Miller reflects on the touchstone that has guided him through his career in medicine: the ability to change someone’s life and make a difference.
A core improvement principle states that the expert is the person doing the work. Utah’s system-wide effort to reduce sepsis puts this principle into action. To adapt to the fast-paced nature of the Emergency Department, an interdisciplinary team used a simple tool: a paper checklist. Clinical nurse coordinator Jamie Troyer and nurse educator Emilie Johnson share how and why the checklist works.
Including patients in treatment planning improves their experience, and patient reported outcomes (PROs) offer new ways to do just that — talking with patients about how treatment impacts their daily life. Clinical Nurse Coordinator Lisa McMurtrey shares the Burn Clinic team’s award-winning work implementing PROs during patient visits without disrupting flow.
Real teams are the antidote to the chaos of modern medicine. “Real teams know each other, feel loyalty to one another, trust one another, and would not want to disappoint one another” (Tom Lee, NEJM Catalyst 2016). Practicing are conversations between real team members about why the work matters. Our goal is to preserve and share the stories of the teams at University of Utah Health.
Workplace aggression occurs so frequently in health care that it’s often accepted as “part of the job.” Patient Safety nurse coordinator Connie Phelps describes some of the work being done at University of Utah Health to help shift that paradigm.
Biometric identification is a national best practice — but adapting that to a local environment isn’t easy. Although it’s rare, confusing an identity can have scary consequences (like getting a prescription for a drug you’re allergic to.) So Doug Ostler and his team worked to implement palm scanners and make patients feel safer.
When Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan Chase & Co. announced their plans to partner up and tackle “the ballooning costs of health care,” our industry underwent a collective shudder. Thankfully, Utah’s payment innovation manager Zac Watne is back to help us unravel the complexity.
Evidence-based practice (EBP) integrates clinical expertise with the best available evidence to drive innovation and improvement. Sue Childress, director of nursing at Huntsman Cancer Institute, champions the process in advance of the 5th Annual Evidence Based Practice Council Poster Fair.
