DHM Quality Post - Aug 2020 thequalitypostGreetings from Cat, Saj, Ari and Jenica Welcome to the 113th edition of The Quality Post! In this issue, we feature why high value care matters now more than ever in a pandemic; offer an HBR tip on the importance of taking vacation; and propose potential True North Quality Metrics for FY21. Last, we provide an update on our FY20 metric performance. inthisissue
Why High Value Care Matters More Than Ever in a Pandemic
HBR Tip: Take Your Vacation ASAP!
Choosing Our FY21 True North Quality Improvement Metrics
FY20 DHM True North Quality Improvement Metric Performance
Why High Value Care Matters More Than Ever in a Pandemic As hospitals across the country have emerged the initial throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, UCSF Health is in a situation that many are also facing: how to best serve patients who have delayed their medical care while caring for COVID-19 patients and preparing for future possible surges. In addition, financial challenges resulting from cancellations of thousands of surgical procedures and substantial decreases in ED, inpatient, and ambulatory volumes have made a return to “business as usual” impossible and impractical. Many workgroups are focused on how our health system and university can think and act differently moving forward to ensure that we continue to provide the highest quality of care possible to patients who need our services while also maintaining patient and workforce safety and balancing the need to restore revenue generation that helps drive our ability to do innovative work in patient care, education, and research. How will this affect your everyday work in DHM? We must work together to re-think how we can eliminate inefficiencies and inequities in our clinical work to reduce our costs and improve hospital care access to patients. Whether this means improvements in discharge planning, doubling down on existing value improvement work such as delirium reduction and improving hospital patient mobility, or reducing short-stay admissions from the ED by embracing telehealth ED follow-up, there are multiple opportunities for us to continuously improve our health system and the care we provide patients. Remember, each of your individual actions and modeling high-value clinical practice is amplified given all of the trainees that we work with. Collectively, we will get through these tough times together by harnessing our talents and abilities to reshape our healthcare system into one that better serves patients in a more patient-centered, safe, effective, efficient, timely, and equitable manner. Take Your Vacation ASAP! Many of us have had our summer vacation plans cancelled due to the pandemic. And between health concerns and financial stresses it may be easy to think, “I should just keep working,” or “What’s the point of a vacation, anyway?" Get those thoughts out of your head! Studies indicate that our performance nose-dives when we work for extended periods without a break. And while your plans will likely look different than last summer, you can still reap the benefits of a vacation, even if you can't travel. It’s not too late to plan something — but make sure that you plan. While a spontaneous getaway can be exciting, research shows that the stress of a poorly planned vacation can eliminate the positive benefits of taking time off. Identify the type of experience that you want to have. What kind of setting and activities recharge your batteries? Don’t underestimate a change of scenery — even if you’re staying close to home, all you need to do is spend a little time outdoors and unplug. (Seriously, don’t check your email.) Finally, create some memories. Take pictures on your trip so you can revisit the experience when you're having a tough day back at work. This tip is adapted from “Thinking of Skipping Vacation? Don’t!,” by Rebecca Zucker Announcements from the DHM Patient-Family Advisory Council (PFAC) September marks the second anniversary of the DHM PFAC. It has been a busy second year where PFAC members have provided input on the following projects and initiatives: · Choosing Hospital Medicine True North Quality Goals and Metrics · "Who’s Who" on the Medicine Service – a PFAC-initiated project to help patients and families understand who their inpatient providers are · Patient and Caregiver Experience of being Hospitalized with COVID-19 · Provider identification in the era of COVID and Personal Protective Equipment · Substance use disorder in the hospital · Inpatient bowel preparation for endoscopy · Using video visits to support the hospital to home care transitions · Improving medication education and instructions for inpatients · Understanding the barriers and improving access to interpreters for LEP Patients · Sleep promotion in the hospital · UC sexual violence policy · Goldman length of service project · Advanced care planning documentation project Please reach out to us if you want to bring your project for feedback from the DHM PFAC. Currently we are reviewing and updating our recruitment approaches to increase our membership with a particular focus on diversity. Expect to hear more from us soon! - Erin, James and Michelle Choosing Our True North Metrics for the 2020-21 Academic Year Every year, our Division focuses on several quality improvement, or True North, goals that are shared priorities across our Division, Health System, Medicine Unit-Based Leadership Team (UBLT), and the medicine residency program. These True North metrics are vetted by the DHM QI and Value team, Value Improvement Committee members, DHM Patient and Family Advisory Council, and are ultimately chosen by our faculty through an annual voting process. At August’s QI lunch, our core QI and Value team presented the final contenders for our True North metrics this academic year. If you missed the presentation, you may view it on the Wiki. Please vote through the link below by Fri, 8/28. |