Patient Safety

We are working with QualityLeaders to "plan, build, implement, and optimize" its quality systems. QualityLeaders draws from a large pool of subject matter experts (SME) in the area of Quality and Patient Safety, including Dr. Charles Denham, Franck Guilloteau, Dr. Allan Frankel, and Dr. Michael Leonard, who provide a combination of onsite, web-teleconference, and telephone support services to the LLUMC leadership team. The framework and focus areas for the development of a robust quality system include the following (cited here with permission from QualityLeaders):

• The National Quality Forum Safe Practices for Better Healthcare -2006 Update published March 2007, The Leapfrog Group 2007 survey, and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement 100,000 Lives and 5 Million Lives Campaigns practices will be used to assist development of design requirements for LLUMC quality systems development. LLUMC will make the decisions regarding adoption timelines and practices to be adopted. QualityLeaders is designing program elements to fit such requirements to suit the unique needs of LLUMC.
• QualityLeaders is working with the LLUMC quality systems staff to undertake gap assessments of the LLUMC acute-care inpatient facilities regarding the NQF Safe Practices and certain payer requirements, such as The Leapfrog Group, in order that all acute-care facilities may answer the current 2007 Leapfrog survey and the updated survey each year. All LLUMC facilities are given direct decision support consisting of on-site and internet-enabled teleconference support in order to answer the 230 direct interview question review undertaken with Leapfrog submitters.

Specific subject matter areas are addressed using the QualityLeaders' concepts, tools, and resources framework:

Concepts: Best and safe practices for quality and safety that tie to NQF Safe Practices for Better Healthcare. Enterprise impact concepts are provided and continually updated.

Tools: Plug and Play tools such as a Safety/Compliance Scorecard (developed collaboratively with LLUMC), and Decision support tools providing clinical, operational, and financial performance improvement impact.

Resources: Actionable consensus standards relevant to quality and safety (TJC, NQF, CMS, etc.), update development briefings are provided regarding pertinent regulatory, CMS, accrediting agencies. All recommended references for all of the harmonized 30 Safe Practices are provided by internet access and continually updated. The key topical modules include the following:

• Creating a Culture of quality and safety including four detailed practice elements: leadership structures and systems, culture measurement, feedback, and interventions, teamwork and team-based training, and identification and mitigation of risks and hazards (that includes integrating information sharing between risk management, quality initiatives, safety initiatives, and customer satisfaction).
• Consent and Disclosure: Informed Consent, Life Sustaining Treatment, and Disclosure.
• Workforce: Nursing Workforce, Direct Caregivers, ICU Care.
• Information Management and Continuity of Care: Critical Care Information, Discharge Systems, Safe Adoption of Integrated Clinical Systems including CPOE, and Abbreviations.
• Medication Management: Pharmacist Role, Medication Reconciliation, High-Alert Medications, Standardized Medication Labeling & Packaging, and Unit Dose Medications.
• Healthcare-Acquired Infections: Prevention of Aspiration and Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia, Hand Hygiene, Influenza Prevention, Central Venous Catheter-Related Blood Stream Infection Prevention, and Surgical Site Infection Prevention.
• Disease Specific Areas: Evidence-Based Referrals, Anticoagulation Therapy, DVT/VTE Prevention, Pressure Ulcer Prevention, Wrong Site, Wrong Procedure, Wrong Person Surgery Prevention, Perioperative Myocardial Infarct/Ischemia Prevention, Contrast Media-Induced Renal Failure Prevention.
• Pain Management performance improvement (that will be tied to mutually agreeable target improvement areas defined with LLUMC).

QualityLeaders and LLUMC share a common vision to provide the safest and highest quality care for the community we serve.