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In 1896, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto published a finding that 80 percent of the wealth in Italy was owned by 20 percent of the people. The concept became known as the Pareto Principle, or the 80-20 rule, which says that a majority of the effects result from a minority of the causes. In quality improvement, you can use a Pareto chart to help you distinguish which factors are the “vital few” — i.e., those factors that make the most difference in an outcome — from the “trivial many.” Bob Lloyd, Executive Director of Performance Improvement at IHI, shows you how in this video.
A nurse manager who’s leading two quality improvement projects at the same time asks, “How do I find more hours in the day?” in a new installment of Dear IHI, IHI’s advice column for improvers. Dave Munch, IHI Faculty for the program “Leading Quality Improvement: Essentials for Managers,” offers some suggestions: Study how you’re using your time, redesign your work to focus on what matters most, and make sure you’re coaching others — not doing their work for them.
As a medical resident, Dr. Ravi Parikh has a lot of autonomy: He can lead a code blue, perform a spinal tap, and run morning rounds. So why can’t he talk to patients about end-of-life care, even when they bring it up? In a new opinion piece in Stat News, Dr. Parikh argues that residents should learn to lead end-of-life discussions when they come up in the course of treatment. Learn more in PFC 103: Having the Conversation: Basic Skills for Conversations about End-of-Life Care.
Chapter Updates
Welcome, New Chapters
Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
Instituto de Servicios Descentralizados de Salud Publica del Estado de Campeche,Mexico
Congratulations to the IHI Open School Chapter at Baylor College of Medicine, which recently held its student-run conference on quality and safety for the fifth year in a row. In a new blog post, the student organizers in the conference share three of the most interesting things they learned from the presentations. Here’s one: No matter your professional interests, you can incorporate quality improvement in your career.
