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This Week at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement
August 24, 2015
Stop Wasting Time on 100% Reliability

The term “high reliability” is often misunderstood in health care. “Health care requires reliable processes — that is, processes that function exactly as designed, all of the time. What may come as a surprise to some,” writes IHI Senior Fellow Dr. Roger Resar, “is that these processes don’t have to be 100 percent reliable.” In this post to the IHI Blog, Resar notes that health care organizations sometimes put too much emphasis on 100 percent reliability, and he argues instead for the value of less-than-perfect design. Although 100 percent reliability does not have to be the process goal, Resar emphasizes, it should always be the outcome goal — because preventing harm to patients is the ultimate aim. He discusses the benefits of less-than-perfect design and offers keys to sustaining the reliability of processes over time. Dr. Resar co-authored the 2004 IHI white paper, Improving the Reliability of Health Care, and is faculty for IHI's upcoming seminar, How to Design Reliable Processes in Health Care.

Reducing Avoidable Readmissions
in the Era of Value-Based Care

Reducing hospital readmissions has been a key area of focus within the larger effort to reform health care in the United States. In fact, explicit efforts to reduce 30-day readmission rates pre-date the passage of the Affordable Care Act and the rise of accountable care organizations. Yet, as accountable care has grown throughout the country, many of those working to reduce readmissions have re-examined their tactics. In a new interview posted to the IHI Blog, Peg Bradke, Vice President of Post-Acute Care Services at UnityPoint Health–St. Luke's Hospital, discusses how getting more involved in accountable care has prompted her organization to take a broader approach. Bradke, faculty for IHI’s upcoming seminar on Reducing Avoidable Readmissions by Improving Transitions in Care​, explains that working in the new accountable care environment has heightened the importance of designing and executing ideal transitions in care to prevent avoidable readmissions.

Using the IHI Open School to Change Medical Education

In 2013, the American Medical Association awarded $1 million grants to 11 schools to accelerate innovation in medical education. One grantee, East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine, has been using IHI Open School content to better prepare their graduates for a health care environment more closely focused on quality and safety. A new story on IHI.org describes how the IHI Open School's online courses have been a central part of incorporating quality, safety, and teamwork throughout the Brody medical school curriculum. The story also details how leaders at Brody are implementing a “train-the-trainers” program, modeled on IHI’s Breakthrough Series Collaborative methodology, to create a Teachers of Quality Academy (completing this program requires the Open School’s basic certificate). For those interested in learning more about how the Open School can complement health education curricula, be sure to check out OS 101: Introduction to the IHI Open School: Join the Movement to Improve Health & Health Care.

IHI Focus Area Spotlight

Improvement Capability: Develop Theories for Improvement Using Driver Diagrams

Person- and Family-Centered Care: What’s It Like to Attend the IHI Forum as a Patient/Family Advisor?

Patient Safety: A “Must Do” List for Safety Practice Compliance

Quality, Cost, and Value: Can Equitable Care Improve the Bottom Line?

Triple Aim for Populations: Tips from a Triple Aim “Early Adopter”

Look For
Batalden.jpg

A new blog post (originally published on Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare's Blog) by Earl Conway and IHI co-founder Paul Batalden (above) on the origins of the phrase, "Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets"

 

ihi_kmccutcheonadams_LThumb.jpg

An IHI Blog post by Director Kelly McCutcheon Adams (above) about a chapter she co-wrote (with IHI Vice President Andrea Kabcenell) for the book, ICU Liberation: The Power of Pain Control, Minimal Sedation, and Early Mobility

 

MITSS_HOPE.jpg


Nominations are now open for the 2015 MITSS (Medically Induced Trauma Support Services) HOPE (Honoring Outstanding People Everywhere) Award

Who's at IHI?
Representatives from the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond are at IHI this week to lead more than 75 staff members in a two-day "Undoing Racism" training.
Where's IHI?
IHI staff will be at CEO Maureen Bisognano's house this Friday for the annual IHI Olympics.

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