Aug 17, 2026

Before this study, we had an uptick in HACs and that realized that HACs were challenging to address with utmost psychological safety. Everyone wants to do their best and prevent patient harm. We took a proactive, team-based approach to reducing healthcare-associated conditions in our pediatric intensive care unit by focusing on patients at the highest risk. Our inter-professional team developed clear criteria to identify these patients and implemented weekly high-risk rounds to ensure consistent, focused attention. During these rounds, we used a structured script to guide conversations with bedside nurses, creating space for open dialogue about patient-specific risks and care priorities. This approach allowed us to move beyond retrospective audits and instead address potential issues in real time.

Jul 2, 2026

Pneumonia is one of the most common pediatric diagnoses and a leading driver of antibiotic use in ambulatory and acute care settings. Despite clear national guidelines supporting narrow-spectrum antibiotics and growing evidence favoring shorter treatment durations, changing prescribing practices for such a high-volume condition has proven challenging. In a recent study published in Annals of Emergency Medicine, IHQSE faculty and colleagues evaluated a quality improvement initiative that combined an EHR-based clinical decision support tool (a preconfigured order set) with an integrated clinical pathway across multiple emergency departments and urgent care settings. The intervention increased guideline-concordant amoxicillin use, reduced azithromycin prescribing, and substantially increased 5-day treatment durations—without increasing revisits or hospitalizations—demonstrating a scalable approach to delivering evidence-based, high-value care.

May 29, 2026

Penicillin allergy labels are frequently inaccurate and can increase hospital costs, contribute to overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics, and impact length of stay. A quality improvement initiative, led by Anita Moudgal MD (recipient of IHQSE CEPS Grant 2023 and participant of IHQSE Improvement Academy 2024 and QWIG 2025), Tara Ward MSN, RN, AGACNP-BC, and Anjeli Kalra MD, aimed to improve penicillin allergy delabeling among hospitalized patients admitted to primary hospital medicine services. A protocol was developed and integrated into the electronic health record to guide hospitalist clinicians to delabel low-risk penicillin allergies. Risk stratification was determined by a validated screening tool known as PEN-FAST. In one year, our quality improvement initiative delabeled penicillin allergy in 8% of hospital medicine patients in one year, exceeding our 5% goal.