This fundamental patient safety practice gets to the heart of “Do No Harm” in health care—so why is it slipping across the nation? In the spirit of New Year’s resolutions, we’re checking-in with U of U Health infection prevention experts Julie Swindells, Katie Smith, and Alessia Banning to bring hand hygiene best practices front and center.
General Surgery Resident Molly Leonard, Colorectal Surgeon Luke Martin, and Infection Preventionist Hailey Harris share how they reduced infections by addressing patient, provider, and environmental factors.
Accurate, self-reported race and ethnicity data is necessary to create visibility of health disparities, provide inclusive care, and improve equity of health outcomes. Community engagement director RyLee Curtis, Chief Quality Officer Sandi Gulbransen, Project Manager Kimberly Killam, Patient Experience Director Mari Ransco, Chief Medical Informatics Officer Michael Strong, and Health Sciences Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Librarian Donna Baluchi explain how University of Utah is improving data quality.
Chief Quality Officer Sandi Gulbransen and Accreditation Manager Kemper Funk provide insight on our partnership with DNV, how accreditation contributes to the safety of our patients and staff, and what to expect during our upcoming evaluation.
Accelerate Learning Community has now grown to exceed more than half a million learners from across the world! Each month, we average around 30,000 visitors who learn about health care equity, improvement, leadership and resilience from U of U Health faculty, staff, students, and trainees. Continuing our annual tradition of giving thanks, we’re celebrating the eight most popular national articles and local favorites in 2022.
Learning a language is a lot like learning collaborative problem solving. Senior Value Engineer Luca Boi takes us to his childhood home of Sardegna, Italy, where he struggled to reconnect with the language—and then it clicked.
Utilization Review is a necessary, but oftentimes messy process that ensures patients are receiving the most appropriate care in the most appropriate setting. Jenny Tuan, hospitalist and medical director of Utilization Review, dissects what UR is all about, including confusing gray areas and sticky pain points.
Nurse Leader Rounding fosters meaningful connection, deepens our understanding of our patients' experiences, and helps us improve as a system. Nursing and education champions Breanna Brannan and Kim Mahoney outline what the process looks like for Nursing Professional Development Practitioners (NPDPs) and offer tips for making connections with patients.
Every Thanksgiving, Accelerate’s Marcie Hopkins makes not just one, but multiple pies to enjoy. To maximize efficiency, she teamed up with Farmington manager Matt Sanford to design the perfect process. And—of course—there’s a health care application as well.
The crises of Covid-19 and police brutality have highlighted systemic racial inequity in the United States and the need to consciously dismantle the forces that cause racial health disparities. PA students Scarlett Reyes and Jocelyn Cortez brought together Black patients at the University of Utah to share their experiences. Their advice: build cultural competence and be mindful of microaggressions.
Performing a rapid critical appraisal helps evaluate a study for its worth by ensuring validity, meaningful data, and significance to the patient. Contributors Barb Wilson, Mary Jean Austria, and Tallie Casucci share a checklist of questions to complete a rapid critical appraisal efficiently and effectively.
Hospitalist Ryan Murphy introduces quality improvement (QI): The systematic and continuous approach to improvement.
