Improves the perceived value of implementing and sustaining QI efforts, and hospitalist leadership of those efforts.
- Advocate directly to the C-suites of hospitals to facilitate alignment of incentives that support hospitalists leading quality initiatives;
- Conduct a survey to quantify resources needed for hospitalists to successfully lead quality initiatives and develop safety programs. Develop a white paper based on survey results and distribute it to the C-suite;
- Encourage QI research that creates evidence and outcomes that can influence C-suites to commit adequate resources to QI activities;
- Explore opportunities to use existing local and national infrastructures to promote a more proactive and evidence-based approach to quality and safety rather than reactive and compliance-oriented quality projects; and
- Create a monthly column in The Hospitalist spotlighting QI efforts and assign staff to recruit submissions of “improvement stories” for the Web site.
Evaluate effectiveness of SHM’s current QI resources, educational offerings. SHM needs to assess its current offerings to understand and improve their effectiveness. Process and impact data are needed to obtain external money to create or sustain QI offerings.
- Create robust evaluations and collect better data to assess use and impact of resource rooms, quality precourses, and other SHM offerings.
Promote and support hospitalists as quality improvement experts. Contribute to the “new science” of quality improvement.
- Partner with the Research Committee to define and publish key areas in need of future research related to quality improvement. Advocate to granting agencies to put out RFPs that will help define the ideal hospital stay and support SHM’s research agenda;
- Partner with federal agencies to assess the value of current performance measures and facilitate development of more reliable and meaningful measures;
- Develop trainings for hospitalists on the methods and science of quality improvement research;
- Partner with the Research Committee to develop a research network; and
- Seek money to support demonstration projects that support our quality agenda.
Another goal, to promote development and adoption of health information technology and decision support tools that advance quality and patient safety, recently was discussed by the HQPSC and will be integrated into the next stage of planning.
Next Steps
SHM has an impressive history of working with its members to develop and implement quality initiatives. Our programs have helped reduce rates of venous thromboembolisms, improve glycemic control, and improve the discharge process. Our highly praised online resource rooms provide free tutorials in QI and implementation guides for specific interventions.
More than 250 healthcare professionals have completed our QI pre-course and more than one thousand hospitalists have completed our leadership programs. This momentum, combined with the acceleration of national interest in quality and patient safety, brings an unprecedented opportunity for SHM to advance hospital medicine, promote the highest quality care for our patients, and position hospitalists to be leaders in transforming hospital care.
During the next year, HQPSC will be translating this strategy into specific activities. SHM staff, HQPSC, and other members are developing additional training programs and technical tools.
If you are interested in becoming more involved in SHM’s quality initiatives, please contact me at [email protected].
If you have a QI success story to share, please consider submission to the Improvement Stories section of the online Resource Rooms or The Hospitalist.
I thank all of you who are part of the “they” who are working tirelessly with SHM to fix “it.” Together we can move mountains, or something more impervious like healthcare systems and performance measures.