QUALITY PROGRESS HIGHLIGHTED DURING PATIENT SAFETY AND QUALITY WEEK
Theme: Communication in health care
Each spring, UF Health faculty, residents, staff and students gather to celebrate Patient Safety and Quality Week, presented by the UF Health Sebastian Ferrero Office of Clinical Quality and Patient Safety. Events this year focused on communication in health care and featured a keynote speaker, quality improvement project presentations, poster sessions and the Quality Hero Awards recognition dinner.
PATIENT SAFETY AWARENESS ACTIVITIES
TEAM SAFETY AND QUALITY AWARDS
Our UF Health colleagues demonstrate a strong commitment to patient safety and quality improvement via multidisciplinary initiatives and original projects. The Team Safety and Quality Awards recognize the best collaborative team projects among providers. Through a rigorous review process, the following five teams received this distinction:
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UF Health Orthopaedics — Adult Arthroplasty and Joint Reconstruction
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UF Health Shands Hospital — Medicine Hospitalist Service Units 74 and 75
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UF Health Lung Transplant Program
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UF Health Heart & Vascular Hospital — Cardiac Surgery ICU Unit 77
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UF Health Shands Hospital — Admission Discharge Transfer Unit
IMPROVEMENT PROJECT SESSIONS
Quality leaders received 82 abstracts, 80% of which were first-time submissions. After review by the committee and executive leadership, five of the top abstract authors participated in podium presentations. The selected abstracts were:
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Reducing Central Line Bloodstream Infections Through Multidisciplinary Central Line Quality Rounds
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Improving Interdisciplinary OR-to-ICU Handoffs in the Cardiac ICU
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Dissolving Barriers to Continuity Across the Care Spectrum
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Improving CMS Pass/Fail Rates for Sepsis Patients in the Emergency Department
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Defining Metrics for Financial Outcomes in a Medication Assistance Program Implemented in a Large Academic Medical Center
A panel of UF Health Shands leaders and UF College of Medicine faculty members judged each presentation. This year, “Dissolving Barriers to Continuity across the Care Spectrum” won the Best Abstract and Presentation Award at the Quality Hero Awards recognition dinner.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER AND PANELIST DISCUSSION
Our keynote speaker was Carma Bylund, Ph.D., an associate professor in the UF College of Journalism and Communications department of public relations. She has additional appointments in the college’s STEM Translational Communication Center as well as in the UF College of Medicine department of medicine’s division of hematology/ oncology. Her didactic presentation, “Communication in Health Care: Research, Evidence and Best Practices from Experienced Clinicians,” demonstrated research and evidence-based outcomes from provider and patient behaviors.
Attendees learned about several communication best practices that clinicians at UF Health have successfully used. They were encouraged to identify one new behavior or process to integrate into their own daily practice for an improved patient experience.
Five UF Health quality top performers joined Bylund for a panel discussion. Topics included their own patient communication experiences: how they communicate to facilitate understanding with patients; how they address challenges with patients and families; and the critical role of collaborative communication between faculty, nurses and staff.
The panelists included:
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Parker Gibbs, M.D., chief medical officer, UF Health Shands; professor of orthopaedic surgery, UF College of Medicine
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Jeffrey Budd, M.D., assistant professor, division of general internal medicine, UF College of Medicine
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Marie-Carmelle Elie, M.D., associate professor, department of emergency medicine, UF College of Medicine
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Laurel Barwick, R.N., clinical leader, Pediatric Critical Care ICU, UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital
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Dylan Moquin, RPSGT, R.S.T., coordinator, UF Health Sleep Center
Bylund shared evidence-based best practices that affect patient satisfaction:
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Sitting down: Patients perceived their doctors to have stayed in the room longer when the doctor sat down when addressing them at the bedside, versus when the physician stood next to them. Hospitalists who sat down scored significantly higher on listening and explaining in patient satisfaction surveys.
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Listening: Active listening is associated with greater patient satisfaction.
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Agenda-setting: Careful use of language, such as the words “something” versus “anything,” helps clinicians open the door to understanding their patients’ expectations. Saying, “Is there something else that you want to address in the visit today?” is preferable to saying, “Is there anything else that you want to address in the visit today?” Changing just this one word has shown to eliminate 78% of patients’ unmet concerns.
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Patient preferences for shared decision-making: Most patients prefer sharing decisions with their clinicians. Including patients in the health care process is critical to their positive experience.
QUALITY HERO AWARDS RECOGNITION DINNER
The Quality Hero Awards recognize outstanding individuals for patient safety, quality and patient experience. Multiple individuals were nominated as Quality Heroes this year. Nominees included physicians, residents, nurses, pharmacists and ancillary staff from diverse disciplines and departments.
Winners included:
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Outstanding Faculty/Advanced Practice Provider: Tiago N. Machuca, M.D., Ph.D.
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Outstanding Faculty/Advanced Practice Provider: Nila S. Radhakrishnan, M.D.
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Outstanding Housestaff: Tyler J. Loftus, M.D.
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Outstanding Ancillary Clinical Staff: John P. Delano, M.P.H., C.I.C.
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Outstanding Non-clinical Staff: Zachary I. Pollard
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Outstanding Patient Experience: Ann M. Charles
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Kathy Gamble Nursing Quality Award: Tara L. Jendzio, D.N.P., R.N.
Thank you to everyone who participated in 2019 Patient Safety and Quality Week activities.
“Thank you to everyone for their continued pursuit of quality and safety efforts and services to and for our patients. It was clear to me throughout the week that teams really value their members and are proud to work at UF Health. I was impressed by the interprofessional involvement in the efforts as well as the interprofessional presence at activities during the week. As always, my door is open to hear about opportunities and successes for quality and patient safety.”
MICHELE LOSSIUS, M.D., CHIEF QUALITY OFFICER FOR UF HEALTH SHANDS HOSPITALS AND CLINICAL PROGRAMS AND UF COLLEGE OF MEDICINE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PEDIATRICS
