New Task Force, New Chair, Improved Patient Care
SHM’s HQPS Committee makes tremendous progress
By Shannon Roach
The past year has been successful and productive for the SHM Health Quality and Patient Safety (HQPS) Committee. Under the leadership of Lakshmi Halasyamani, MD, HQPS has strengthened its national leadership role in inpatient quality improvement efforts, most notably in the areas of reducing DVTs, improving glycemic control and management of patients with heart failure. Additionally, HQPS has strengthened relationships with partner organizations and created new alliances. HQPS has participated in the development of training activities and clinical support tools for quality improvement efforts.
Hand-Off Standards
The Hand-Off Standards and Communication Task Force was formed to create a formally recognized set of standards for ensuring optimum communication and continuity of care at the end of a medical professional’s shift or a patient’s change in service. The standards ensure that care is coordinated and that important clinical care issues are effectively managed. The development methodology mirrors that of the Discharge Planning Checklist and includes a literature review, panel of experts, presentation to and input from membership. Vineet Arora, MD, has led this development in collaboration with Sunil Kripalani, MD, Efren Manjarrez, MD, Dan Dressler, MD, Preetha Basaviah, MD, and Lakshmi Halasyamani, MD.
The Hand-Off Standards checklist was unveiled at the 2007 Annual Meeting from May 23-25 in Dallas, where attendees reviewed and voted on the standards in order to provide the Task Force with a final draft to present to the Expert Panel for a final review. Effective hand-offs require program policy, verbal exchange, and content exchange. A research agenda was also proposed to evaluate these standards rigorously, put emphasis on controlled interventions, and to encourage SHM and other organizations to fund research and innovations in this area.
Medication Reconciliation
The Medication Reconciliation Task Force is charged with understanding the state of and leading work related to Medication Reconciliation. In support of that, the Task Force submitted a grant proposal to AHRQ to provide funding for a multidisciplinary conference to identify barriers and develop strategies for Quality Improvement in this area.
Heart Failure
Dr. Halasyamani, former HQPS chair, was a key participant in the development of the Heart Failure Resource Room, which launched in February 2006. As part of the Heart Failure Education and Quality Improvement Initiative, there have been both clinical tools and CME/CE additions to this Web-based resource (visit www.hospitalmedicine.org and click “Quality & Safety” then click “Quality Improvement Resource Rooms”). The Quality Improvement Workbook, the Palliative Care CME Module, and Didactic Slide Sets are all housed in the Resource Room along with the recently developed Clinical Tools focusing on Team Communication, Discharge Planning and Polypharmacy.
The Tools include an Inpatient Goal Sheet, a Hospitalist Admission and Daily Rounding Checklist, a Conceptual Model for Teamwork, two reference guides: Patient Education and High Risk Medications for the Heart Failure Patient, and Heart Failure, specific elements of which were integrated into the SHM Discharge Planning Checklist.
Additional CME/CE modules have also been integrated into the Heart Failure Resource Room: Palliative Care for Patients with Heart Failure and Optimizing the Heart Failure Discharge Transition.
A CD-ROM including all these new resources was given to attendees of the Annual Meeting.
Building Partnerships
HQPS has been strengthening partnerships with other professional, regulatory and advocacy groups. These partnerships are intended to improve safety and take a leadership role in setting the national agenda for key quality improvement areas. We now have official liaisons with Academy of Health-System Pharmacists (AHSP), National Transitions of Care Coalition (NTOCC), Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), and Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB).