IMPROVING OUTCOMES

30% Improvement in Pre-Operative VTE Prophylaxis Leading to Fewer VTE Events

CREATING THE SCIENCE

Team, Patient-Centered Outcomes and Professional Development Drive Participation in QI Projects

Journal of Interprofessional Education and Practice 2016

IMPROVING OUTCOMES

7-day Reduction in LOS for Bone Marrow Transplant Patients

IHQSE Newsroom

The latest in quality and safety performance

Publications

  • Nursing Management

    Redesigning Care Delivery for the FutureOpens in a new window

    Oct 31, 2024
    One of the greatest challenges in acute care is the ability to hire and retain nurses. With high turnover and a limited candidate pool, how do you build a highly reliable organization with fewer nurses? This advanced care setting calls for Bachelor-level nurses, but those can be hard to come by, and contract labor is expensive and unsustainable in the long term. IHQSE graduate, Stephanie Elston, MSN, and her team have built a model that optimizes support to the front-line staff, helping to relieve the disproportionate reliance on RNs.
    Opens in a new window Full story
  • Psychiatric Services Logo

    Leveraging Patient-Reported Outcome Measures to Improve Mental Health CareOpens in a new window

    Oct 23, 2024
    Using patient-reported outcome measures to guide clinical care is associated with improved outcomes and widely regarded as a best practice in mental health. However, many systems have struggled to routinely adopt the practice. In an article in Psychiatric Services, IHQSE faculty, alumni, and members of the University of Colorado Department of Psychiatry describe how they used technology to address major barriers to using this best practice in their design and implementation of the Measurement-Assisted Care (MAC) program. In MAC, patient-reported outcome measures are automatically attached to patient eCheck-in and clinician documentation templates nudge clinicians to view and discuss the responses during visits. MAC increased the availability of patient-reported outcome measures from 5% to 60%+ of patient visits with more than 90% of clinicians reporting the information was useful.
    Opens in a new window Full story
  • JAMA Network

    Utility of Artificial Intelligence–Generative Draft Replies to Patient MessagesOpens in a new window

    Oct 14, 2024
    In-basket burden is frequently cited as a contributor to burnout. In a research letter published in JAMA Network Open, IHQSE graduate, Dr. Eden English, discusses her recent study of the use of large language models (LLMs) for drafting replies to patient messages within a large health system.
    Opens in a new window Full story
  • Journal of Hosp medicine

    Secure Messaging: Communication Boon or Workload Bane?Opens in a new window

    Oct 2, 2024
    Secure messaging (SM) is becoming a common way for hospitalists to communicate, but most existing literature focuses on usage patterns and implementation science, without clear understanding of the benefits and challenges users may be encountering. IHQSE Faculty Michelle Knees, DO and team led a mixed methods study involving surveys and focus groups with hospitalists from 24 academic institutions, finding that, while SM enhances communication efficiency, it also increases multitasking, cognitive load, and alters interpersonal dynamics. The study underscores the need for clear institutional guidelines for SM use and emphasizes the importance of collaborating with frontline workers to improve communication practices.
    Opens in a new window Full story

IHQSE Highlights

  • An Interview with Dr. Alexandria Wiersma

    3Q's for QI | Q&A with Dr. Alexandria Wiersma

    Dec 20, 2024
    Quality improvement experts at Children’s Hospital Colorado, including Dr. Sandra Spencer (IHQSE Faculty) and Dr. Alexandria Wiersma (IHQSE Graduate), developed a novel fast-track model, typically seen in emergency departments, and implemented it in an urgent care. We spoke with IHQSE graduate Dr. Alexandria Wiersma about key takeaways from this project and how those findings can be used as a model for other urgent care settings.
    Full story
  • Eden English Q&A

    3Q's for QI | Q&A with Dr. Eden English

    Dec 13, 2024
    In-basket burden is frequently cited as a contributor to burnout. In a research letter published in JAMA Network Open, IHQSE graduate, Dr. Eden English, discusses her recent study of the use of large language models (LLMs) for drafting replies to patient messages within a large health system. This study underscores the potential of LLMs to reduce clinician burnout and enhance patient care, while also emphasizing the importance of transparency and continuous refinement of AI tools in healthcare.
    Full story
  • An interview with Dr. Dana Steidtmann

    3Q's for QI |Q&A with Dr. Dana Steidtmann

    Nov 25, 2024
    Using patient-reported outcome measures to guide clinical care is associated with improved outcomes and widely regarded as a best practice in mental health. However, many systems have struggled to routinely adopt the practice. In an article in Psychiatric Services, IHQSE alumni and members of the University of Colorado Department of Psychiatry describe how they used technology to address major barriers to using this best practice in their design and implementation of the Measurement-Assisted Care (MAC) program. We spoke with lead author and IHQSE graduate Dr. Dana Steidtmann about how this work took shape and the potential impact it could have on mental healthcare.
    Full story

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