Key players on the Anschutz Medical Campus have teamed up to create an institute to improve clinical and educational aspects of patient safety.
Promoting Quality, Safety, Efficiency
The Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety and Efficiency (IHQSE) is a partnership among the School of Medicine, College of Nursing, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado Hospital and Children’s Hospital Colorado.
“The institute is an imperative step in our clinical transformation,” says Jeff Glasheen, MD, who as part of this effort was named associate dean for clinical affairs for quality and safety education.
The IHQSE, which has been approved and is just taking shape, will have three branches Glasheen says: education, clinical operations
The IHQSE will focus on creating, resourcing and supporting high-functioning clinical teams capable of frontline process improvement and education. The goal is to create clinical teams for every unit, clinic or program within the campus within 5 years. A physician and nurse champion will lead each team.
Features of the institute include:
- Dedicated data analysts, quality assistants and project managers to support the teams
- A one-year training program for the physician-nurse team leaders, including 100 hours of curriculum that leads to a project on quality improvement or patient safety
- An oversight group to ensure that the work of the teams fits institutional priorities
Education is a key component.
“We intend to train students and house staff in the core tenets of how to improve processes,” Glasheen says. “As part of that, in their clinical
The institute plans call for grant and fundraising efforts, he says, and for an outreach program to bring innovations to the broader community.
“The institute will promote process improvement,” Glasheen says. “And we want it to run on those same tenets. So as we help teach people who deliver care how to benefit from experience; we plan to take what we learn to improve the effectiveness of the institute itself.”