Quality Initiatives
Over the past several years, SHM has developed initiatives that range from convening a panel to assess the state of the art of a QI intervention to developing a Web-based resource room. Projects EQID is involved with:
- SHM is in the early stages of a three-year effort to develop resources and programs for improving hospital care transitions for older adults. This is supported through a major grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation in New York City, under the leadership of Mark Williams, MD, and Eric Coleman, MD, MPH. Dr. Williams is chief of the new Division of Hospital Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and editor of the Journal of Hospital Medicine. Dr. Coleman is associate professor of medicine within the divisions of healthcare policy and research and geriatric medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Aurora.
- “The Heart Failure Quality Improvement Implementation Guide” has been updated. The Heart Failure Resource Room on SHM’s Web site has been redesigned to make it easier for visitors who wish to follow the process of developing a QI intervention related to care of the hospitalized heart failure patient. We are communicating these changes to the hospital medicine community. Supported in part by Scios Inc., based in Mountain View, Calif., this effort includes presentations at regional meetings. This project was led by Nurcan Ilksoy, MD, assistant professor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.
- The VTE Prevention Collaborative is open to all members implementing a QI program to combat venous thromboembolism in the hospitalized patient. The Sanofi-Aventis-supported collaborative uses seasoned QI leaders as mentors. Greg Maynard, MD, MS, and Jason Stein, MD, lead the enrollees through the QI process. The mentees have the benefit of regularly scheduled calls to ask questions and receive instant feedback on their process and progress. An add-on to this program, funded by the Kettering Foundation of Dayton, Ohio, provides the opportunity for on-site consultations. Dr. Maynard is head of the Division of Hospital Medicine and associate clinical professor of medicine at the University of California-San Diego. Dr. Stein is a hospitalist at Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital, assistant professor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, and director of Quality Improvement for the Emory Hospital Medicine Unit.
- An expert panel convened in July to kick off development of an Acute Coronary Syndrome Resource Room and determine the content the resource room will cover. Content address diagnosis and risk stratification, medication, interventional procedures, patient education, transitions, and care coordination. This initiative is being led by Chad Whelan, MD, and is supported in part by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, New York City. Dr. Whelan is an academic hospitalist and an assistant professor of medicine at University of Chicago in the Section of General Internal Medicine.
- SHM often studies strategies to improve patient satisfaction, outcomes, length of stay, and other important metrics. An expert panel assesses observation units as they contribute to improved treatment of patients with acute decompensated heart failure, chest pain, and other clinical conditions such as asthma. A white paper is pending on the use and value of observation units. Support for the meeting and development and distribution of the white paper was provided by Scios Inc.
Committee Support
A major staff role is the support of the Education and Hospital Quality and Patient Safety (HQPS) committees, the groups that direct and drive SHM in these important areas. The Education Committee, led by Chairman Bill Rifkin, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., is focusing on: