Quality Improvement and Patient Safety

Throughout the four years of training residents are taught the basics of quality improvement (QI) and learn how to implement change across the different healthcare sites. Our very own Med-Peds Clinic allows us the opportunity to test and implement QI initiatives on a small scale; this project is led by our Clinic Director, QI Chief and 3rd year residents. All third year residents participate in a half day QI workshop to learn the fundamentals of QI and to apply their knowledge to a resident-chosen project. Check out some of our past and current projects:

• 2017-current: Collaboration with Denver Public Health to Increase screening for latent tuberculosis within our high-risk clinic population. This led to oral presentations and posters at ACP and SGIM. Most recently the CDC asked Dr. Amy Beeson (Class of 21) and Dr. Jon Schultz (Class of 19) to present our project to the TB Division of the CDC. 
  • Check out how our partner with Public Health has been highlighted in this national publication and toolkit: Page 18

• 2018-2020: Residents partnered with the Colorado Department of Public Health to address the low adolescent STI screening rates in Denver. Residents spent 4 days together with national QI experts completing several PDSAs and developing new clinic processes to improve how patients were being screened for STIs and delivery of confidential care for adolescents in general. 
  • The patient and parent letters that were developed during this Kaizen were disseminated and are now being used at all 10 Denver Health Community Health Centers. Our work also led to further collaborations with public health and ambulatory care services to roll out universal chlamydia screening at Denver Health.

• 2020-2021: Our residents work closely with the Certified Addiction Counselor at the Pena Clinic to identify and treat Substance Use Disorders. All of our residents are given time to complete their suboxone waiver and receive education on medication assisted treatment (MAT). In an effort to address the rise in opioid related deaths, our program completed a project to improve safe prescribing habits by residents and faculty.

• 2022-2023: Residents sought to increase lung cancer screening for potentially eligible patients at the Pena clinic. Focused on this topic as this is an area of great inequity among non-white, less affluent and less educated persons, which represents a large proportion of the patients Denver Health serves. Implementing a 'quality suggestion' within the EHR to encourage accurate pack year smoking history with the goal that this leads to increased screening. Residents are also collaborating with the Cancer Screening Work Group at Denver Health to conduct education sessions at monthly provider meetings and developing individualized reports for providers. Residents secured grant funding through the UC Health IHQSE Clinical Effectiveness and Patient Safety grant program and work on this project remains ongoing.

Residents interested in QI are encouraged to participate and complete the various trainings offered by the University of Colorado Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety and Efficiency .

Residents in their 4th year of training are given dedicated time to learn about patient safety and disclosure of errors. As a final project, each resident presents a morbidity and mortality case at a Med-Peds academic half day.