Drive to provide high value healthcare has created a field of medical quality improvement and safety. A Quality Improvement (QI) project would often aim in translate medical evidence (e.g. hand hygiene saves lives) into clinical practice (e.g. actually washing your hands before you see the patient, suffice it to say that not all hospitals are able to report 100% compliance with hand-hygiene). All doctoral residents in the United States must now satisfy a new requirement from the American College of Graduate Medical Education that they participate in a QI initiative. However, few departments are equipped to help their residents develop and implement a QI initiative. Resident’s Handbook is a short, not fussy, and practical introduction to developing a QI initiative. Meant not only for residents seeking to jump-start a QI initiative but also for attending physicians looking to improve their clinical practice, residency program directors and even medical students already eyeing what residency training holds for them; the book introduces and explains the basic tools needed to conduct a QI project. It provides numerous real-life examples of QI projects by the residents, fellows and attendings who designed them, who discuss their successes and failures as well as the specific tools they used. Several chapters provide a more senior perspective on resident involvement in QI projects and feature contributions from several QI leaders, a hospital administration VP and a residency program director. Though originally designed with physicians in mind, the book will also be helpful for physician assistants, nurses, physical, occupational and speech language pathology therapists, as well as students in these disciplines. Since no QI intervention is likely to be successful if attempted in isolation more non-physician clinicians are joining the ranks of quality and safety leadership. Therefore several non-physician clinician led initiatives included in the manuscript constitute an integral part of this book.The book serves as a short introduction to the field of medical quality improvement and safety emphasizing the practical pointers of how to actually implement a project from its inception to publication. To our knowledge this is the first concise do-it-yourself publication of its kind. Some of the topics covered include: how to perform an efficient literature search, how to get published, how to scope a project, how to generate improvement ideas, effective communication, team, project management and basic quality improvement tools like PDCA, DMAIC, Lean, Six Sigma, human factors, medical informatics etc.. Although no substitute for the services of a trained clinical statistician, chapters on statistics and critical assessment of the medical literature familiarizes residents with basic statistical methodologies, clinical trials and evidence based medicine (EBM). Since no QI project is complete without providing evidence for post-intervention improvement we provide a short introduction to the free statistical language R, which helps residents independently run basic statistical calculations. Because much of QI involves assessment of subjective human experiences, there is also a chapter on how to write surveys. Resident’s Handbook of Medical Quality and Safety is not an exhaustive QI textbook but rather a hands-on pocket guide to supplement formal training by other means.div

"Nurses play a vital role in improving the safety and quality of patient car -- not only in the hospital or ambulatory treatment facility, but also of community-based care and the care performed by family members. Nurses need know what proven techniques and interventions they can use to enhance patient outcomes. To address this need, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), with additional funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has prepared this comprehensive, 1,400-page, handbook for nurses on patient safety and quality -- Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. (AHRQ Publication No. 08-0043)." - online AHRQ blurb, http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nurseshdbk/

Implementing safety practices in healthcare saves lives and improves the quality of care: it is therefore vital to apply good clinical practices, such as the WHO surgical checklist, to adopt the most appropriate measures for the prevention of assistance-related risks, and to identify the potential ones using tools such as reporting & learning systems. The culture of safety in the care environment and of human factors influencing it should be developed from the beginning of medical studies and in the first years of professional practice, in order to have the maximum impact on clinicians' and nurses' behavior. Medical errors tend to vary with the level of proficiency and experience, and this must be taken into account in adverse events prevention. Human factors assume a decisive importance in resilient organizations, and an understanding of risk control and containment is fundamental for all medical and surgical specialties. This open access book offers recommendations and examples of how to improve patient safety by changing practices, introducing organizational and technological innovations, and creating effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable care systems, in order to spread the quality and patient safety culture among the new generation of healthcare professionals, and is intended for residents and young professionals in different clinical specialties.

Examines the newest scientific advances in the science of safety.

The Quality Handbook for Health Care Organizations This important book is a practical, theory-based resource on the topic of health care quality management written for health care administrators and practitioners. It offers the tools needed to help managers make decisions, prioritize resources (financial and human), and analyze and improve the care they deliver. The Handbook offers a hands-on approach to specific topics such as the implementation of managerial goals, instructions for developing accurate measurements for evaluating care, the utilization of data as a basis for process improvement, exploration of quality management tools and techniques, guidelines for the complex integration of collaborative services in health care, and methods for effective communication and improving accountability. In addition, the book is filled with illustrative examples of methods for ensuring appropriate oversight of clinical and quality activities, offers solutions for addressing and preventing adverse events, and explores the important people-to-people interactions that ultimately define excellence in medical care. Praise for The Quality Handbook for Health Care Organizations "The Quality Handbook for Health Care Organizations offers students of health care policy and management a unique opportunity to learn firsthand from one of the nation’s leading experts in health care quality. Dr. Dlugacz’s passion for promoting the highest ideals of quality in health care should inspire future generations of health care professionals." –Alan M. Leiken, chair, Department of Health Care Policy and Management, School of Health Care Policy and Management, School of Health Technology and Management, Health Sciences Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook "This outstanding book combines both the quantitative aspects of data collection and analysis with the critical human behaviors that make up a health care institution’s culture. Only when these two factors combine do true ‘quality’ decisions and patient care result." –Stuart R. Levine, author, The Six Fundamentals of Success "The Quality Handbook reflects the authors’ combination of technical know-how, years of experience, and the enthusiasm for the complex challenge of their work." –Margaret E. O’Kane, president, National Committee of Quality Assurance

Building on the revolutionary Institute of Medicine reports To Err is Human and Crossing the Quality Chasm, Keeping Patients Safe lays out guidelines for improving patient safety by changing nurses' working conditions and demands. Licensed nurses and unlicensed nursing assistants are critical participants in our national effort to protect patients from health care errors. The nature of the activities nurses typically perform â€" monitoring patients, educating home caretakers, performing treatments, and rescuing patients who are in crisis â€" provides an indispensable resource in detecting and remedying error-producing defects in the U.S. health care system. During the past two decades, substantial changes have been made in the organization and delivery of health care â€" and consequently in the job description and work environment of nurses. As patients are increasingly cared for as outpatients, nurses in hospitals and nursing homes deal with greater severity of illness. Problems in management practices, employee deployment, work and workspace design, and the basic safety culture of health care organizations place patients at further risk. This newest edition in the groundbreaking Institute of Medicine Quality Chasm series discusses the key aspects of the work environment for nurses and reviews the potential improvements in working conditions that are likely to have an impact on patient safety.

Concise, portable, and user-friendly, The Washington Manual® of Patient Safety and Quality Improvement covers essential information in every area of this complex field. With a focus on improving systems and processes, preventing errors, and promoting transparency, this practical reference provides an overview of PS/QI fundamentals, as well as insight into how these principles apply to a variety of clinical settings. Part of the popular Washington Manual® series, this unique volume provides the knowledge and skills necessary for an effective, proactive approach to patient safety and quality improvement.

Described in the New York Times as “an astonishingly clear ‘user’s manual’ that explains our health care system and the policies that will change it,” The Health Care Handbook, by Drs. Elisabeth Askin and Nathan Moore, offers a practical, neutral, and readable overview of the U.S. health care system in a compact, convenient format. The fully revised third edition provides concise coverage on health care delivery, insurance and economics, policy, and reform—all critical components of the system in which health care professionals work. Written in a conversational and accessible tone, this popular, highly regarded handbook serves as a “one stop shop” for essential facts, systems, concepts, and analysis of the U.S. health care system, providing the tools you need to confidently evaluate current health care policy and controversies.

This new edition of this bestselling guide offers an integrated approach to process improvement that delivers quick and substantial results in quality and productivity in diverse settings. The authors explore their Model for Improvement that worked with international improvement efforts at multinational companies as well as in different industries such as healthcare and public agencies. This edition includes new information that shows how to accelerate improvement by spreading changes across multiple sites. The book presents a practical tool kit of ideas, examples, and applications.