ACGME Health Care Disparities Collaborative
In concert with the ACGME Health Care Disparities Collaborative Residents and Fellows are engaged in quality improvement initiatives focused on promoting healthcare equity by reducing healthcare disparities in alignment with the priorities set by medical center leadership.
There are four initiatives:
- Reducing disparities in door to balloon times for STEMI patients
- Reduction of readmissions for patients with Congestive Heart Failure
- Improved screening for Cervical Cancer, Breast Cancer and Colon Cancer
- Improved post-surgical outcomes for knee and hip replacement.
House Staff Quality Forum
The House Staff Quality Forum aims to improve patient care and safety by engaging residents and fellows in a variety of quality improvement projects and enhancing communication between departments.
Patient Safety Event Reporting
One of our initiatives this year is focused on reviewing events submitted by residents and fellows to the Patient Safety Reporting System in an effort to identify opportunities for system improvements. As opportunities are identified forum members will initiate quality improvement projects where they can make an impact!
Opioid Stewardship
The second initiative began with Internal Medicine housestaff identifying the need to make daily assessments of every patient’s pain level and review the amount of opioids consumed. The team developed an intervention which included a .paintimeout dot phrase and a badge buddy reference tool for pain management. In the second phase of this initiative housestaff in General Surgery are continuing the effort by examining improved functional outcomes due to improved pain control by employing the dotphrase and badge buddy tools in their practice.
Resident Advisory Council
Improving Inter-Team Communication
The Resident Advisory Council initiated a quality improvement project aimed at improving inter-team communication. An opportunity to improve communication between consulting and primary teams was identified. The project plans to advance the efficiency and quality of delivered patient care by improving communication around consults. It is expected that improved consult communication will also contribute to increased patient and physician satisfaction.
Consult Courtesy Guidance Document (PDF)
Taskforce to Eliminate Mistreatment – Survey Subgroup
As an extension of the mission to create a diverse, inclusive, and equitable learning environment, the survey subgroup was assembled to create measurements to help define the scope of mistreatment experienced by trainees in our programs. To that end, the subgroup is focused on developing and administering surveys that will help define the understanding and extent of mistreatment, from the perspective of both targets and culprits, in order to provide a better foundation on which interventions may be generated.