Quality improvement (QI) is essential to the advancement of medicine. QI differs from research as it focuses on already proven knowledge and aims to make quick, sustainable change in local health care systems. Community hospitals may not have organized quality improvement initiatives and often rely on individual hospitalists to be their champions.
Dr. Gopi Astik
Although there are resources for quality improvement projects, initiating a project can seem daunting to a hospitalist. Our aim is to equip the community hospitalist with basic skills to initiate their own successful project. We present our “Top 10” tips to review.
1. Start small: Many quality improvement ideas include grandiose changes that require a large buy-in or worse, more money. When starting a QI project, you need to consider low-cost, high-impact projects. Even the smallest projects can make considerable change. Focus on ideas that require only one or two improvement cycles to implement. Understand your hospital culture, flow, and processes, and then pick a project that is reasonable.
Projects can be as simple as decreasing the number of daily labs ordered by your hospitalist group. Projects that are small could still improve patient satisfaction and decrease costs. Listen to your colleagues, if they are discussing an issue, turn this into an idea! As you learn the culture of your hospital you will be able to tackle larger projects. Plus, it gets your name out there!
2. Establish buy-in: Surround yourself with champions of your cause. Properly identifying and engaging key players is paramount to a successful QI project. First, start with your hospital administration, and garner their support by aligning your project with the goals and objectives that the administration leaders have identified to be important for your institution. Next, select a motivated multidisciplinary team. When choosing your team, be sure to include a representative from the various stakeholders, that is, the individuals who have a variety of hospital roles likely to be affected by the outcome of the project. Stakeholders ensure the success of the project because they have a fundamental understanding of how the project will influence workflow, can predict issues before they arise, and often become empowered to make changes that directly influence their work.
Lastly, include at least one well-respected and highly influential member on your team. Change is always hard, and this person’s support and endorsement of the project, can often move mountains when challenges arise.
Dr. Audrey Corbett
3. Know the data collector: It is important to understand what data can be collected because, without data, you cannot measure your success. Arrange a meeting and develop a partnership with the data collector. Obtain a general understanding of how and what specific data is collected. Be sure the data collector has a clear understanding of the project design and the specific details of the project. Include the overall project mission, specific aims of the project, the time frame in which data should be collected, and specific inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Often, data collectors prefer to collect extra data points upfront, even if you end up not using some of them, rather than having to find missing data after the fact. Communication is key, so be available for questions and open to the suggestions of the data collector.
4. Don’t reinvent the wheel: Prior to starting any QI projects, evaluate available resources for project ideas and implementation. The Society of Hospital Medicine and the American College of Physicians outline multiple projects on their websites. Reach out to colleagues at other institutions and obtain their input as they are likely struggling with similar issues and/or have worked on similar project ideas. Use these resources as scaffolding and edit them to fit your institution’s processes and culture, and use their metrics as your measures of success.
Dr. Hemali Patel
5. Remove waste: When determining QI projects, consider focusing on health care waste. Many of the current processes at our institutions have redundancies that add unhealthy time, effort, and inefficiency to our days that can not only impede patient care but also can lead to burnout. When outlining a project idea, consider mapping the process in your interested area to identify those redundancies and inefficiencies. Consider focusing on these instead of building an entirely new process. Improving inefficiencies also can help with provider buy-in with process changes, especially if this helps in improving their everyday frustrations.
6. Express your values: Create a sense of urgency around the problem you are trying to solve. Educate your colleagues to understand the depth of the QI initiative and its impact on their ability to care for patients and patient safety. Express genuine interest in improving your colleagues’ ability to care for patients and improve their days.
Sharing your passion about your project allows people to understand your vested interest in improving the system. This will inspire team members to lead the way to change and encourage colleagues to adopt the recommended changes.
7. Recognize and reward your team: Involve “champions” in every process change. Identify people who are part of your team and ensure they feel valued. Recognition and acknowledgment will allow people to feel more involved and to gain their buy-in. When it comes to results or progress, consider your group’s dynamics. If they are competitive, consider posting progress results on a publicly displayed run chart. If your group is less likely to be motivated by competition, hold individual meetings to help show progress. This is a crucial dynamic to understand, because creating a competitive environment may alienate some members of your group. Remember, the final result is not to blame those lagging behind but to encourage everyone to find the best pathway to success.
Dr. Theresa Ronan
8. Be okay with failure: Celebrate your failures because failure is a chance to learn. Every failure is an educational opportunity to understand what not to do, or a chance to gain insight into a process that did not work.
Be a divergent thinker. Start considering problems as part of the path to solution, rather than a barrier in the way. Be open to change and learn from your mistakes. Don’t just be okay with your failures, own them. This will lead to trust with your team members and show your commitment.
9. Finish: This is key. You must finish your project. Even if you anticipate that the project will fail, you should see the project through to its completion. This proves both you and the process of QI are valid and worthwhile; you have to see results and share them with others.
Completing your project also shows your colleagues that you are resilient, committed, and dedicated. Completing a QI project, even with disappointing results, is a success in and of itself. In the end, it is most important to remember to show progress, not perfection.
10. Create sustainability: When your QI project is finished, you need to decide if the changes are sustainable. Some projects show small change and do not need permanent implementation, rather reminders over time. Other projects may be sustainable with EHR or organizational changes. Once you have successful results, your goal should be to find a way to ensure that the process stays in place over time. This is where all your hard work establishing buy-in comes in handy. Your team is more likely to create sustainable change with the hard work you forged through following these key tips.
These Top 10 tips are a hospitalist’s starting point to begin making changes at their own community hospital. Your motivation and effort in making quality change will not go unnoticed. Small ideas will open doors for larger, more sustainable QI projects. Remember, a failure just means a new idea for the next cycle! Enjoy the process of working collaboratively with your hospital on improving quality. Good luck!
Dr. Astik is a hospitalist and instructor of medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago. Dr. Corbett is a hospitalist and assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma, Tulsa. Dr. Patel is a hospitalist and assistant professor at the University of Colorado, Denver. Dr. Ronan is a hospitalist and associate professor at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, Santa Fe, NM.
