From Hospitals to Everyday Life: Using Quality Improvement Skills to Tackle Problems

By: The Institute for Healthcare Improvement

Why It Matters

“Whether it’s trying to get your kid out the door faster in the morning or trying to detect sepsis more quickly and manage it more effectively, the same tools work."

About 10 years ago, an Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) team was working with a hospital that routinely used physical restraints on patients in their intensive care unit (ICU). The patient mix was complex, and the hospital team felt that they needed to use restraints to keep the patients from harming themselves or others. 

Jesse McCall, MBA, Senior Director at IHI and an improvement advisor, recalled how the IHI team urged the hospital staff to rethink their approach. They cited abundant evidence that the use of restraints can be harmful. They discussed their own experience in testing the removal of restraints. They talked about the success they achieved and the failures from which they learned. “Restraints are not good for staff and they’re not good for patients and families,” he said in a recent interview. Moreover, “unless it’s in an extreme situation, they’re not necessary.” But for the staff, change was difficult. Using restraints was common, and they were worried about the consequences of stopping.  

I am honored to be participating in the Improvement for Healthcare Institute (IHI) Breakthrough Series (BTS) College, a professional development program designed to teach all aspects of a tested improvement method that relies on spreading and adapting highly effective changes to multiple settings. Upon the conclusion of the training, several of my Health Impact Ohio (HIO) colleagues and I will be equipped to run a successful Collaborative improvement project.

Earlier this month, as part of the BTS program, I attended a 2-day in-person session at IHI in Boston, along with 50 professionals from across the globe. Together, we learned the nuts and bolts of designing and implementing an Improvement Initiative – including establishing an appropriate timeline (12-18 months), developing technical content, preparing and supporting teams, designing and facilitating Learning Sessions (3 of them, each with their own unique purpose), and managing Action period activities between Learnings Sessions, because as our trainer pointed out multiple times exactly zero improvements occur during Learning Sessions. Improvements happen during the Action Periods between Learning Sessions. Learning, planning, setting clarity, and expectations happen during the Learning Sessions, so they are a critical component of the methodology.

Health Impact Ohio Attends National Community Health Worker Summit

This month, a group of Health Impact Ohio (HIO) staff and Community Health Workers (CHWs) who participate in the Community Health Workers for COVID Response and Resilient Communities (CDC CCR) project attended a three-day Community Health Worker Sustainability Summit hosted by Envision in partnership with the Washington State Evaluation Partnership (WSEP) and Arizona State University Office of Community Health Engagement and Resiliency (ASU).

The summit offered recipients of the CCR grant the opportunity to showcase their work and strategize together about the sustainability of funding and support for CHW programs after the CCR grant funding ends. Our Ohio team presented a poster on sustaining CHW services in Ohio. The presentation went very well, and we are proud of the education and networking our team was able to provide and participate in.