Plan Breakdown
I would like to tell you about some of the newest quality initiatives currently underway. First is an advisory board on pharmacoeconomics. We are pulling together 11 industry leaders, including CEOs, chief financial officers, chief medical officers, pharmacists, and thought leaders in quality. This advisory board will be evaluating the standard operating procedures in hospitals across the country regarding the use of pharmacoeconomics in decisions to utilize medications, especially newer and more expensive agents, using venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention as a case example.
We have assembled another advisory board, which is just underway, to look at complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI). This board will include hospitalists, infection control physicians, emergency room physicians, pharmacists, wound care nurses, and quality improvement experts.
Lastly, we have a second VTE project charged with the development of an automated, electronic query for a major commercial clinical information system. The project team is tasked to develop and demonstrate how a system can dramatically increase the prevalence of VTE prophylaxis in hospitals where it will be piloted.
Collaborative Efforts
I also would like to share a few of the other exciting activities the quality department has been up to recently. SHM is in the process of collaborating on a book with the Joint Commission Resources on Hospitalists and Patient Safety. The book is scheduled for release this spring, so be on the lookout. We also are writing an article for the The Physician Executive, which is the journal of the American College of Physician Executives. The article focuses on how quality, patient safety, and patient satisfaction are becoming priorities for physician executives, and how hospitalists are a critical element of a strategy to address this priority. We also are talking with other organizations, such as the American Hospital Association and United Health Group, about potential collaborative work in the future.
So, you can see things at SHM headquarters are anything but dull. The entire QI department—both the veterans and new staff—are looking forward to helping you make your quality and patient safety initiatives more successful and improve the care of patients throughout the country. TH