Patient Safety in Hospitals
Improving Individual Patient Care Overview
As the patient safety field experts for the national Medicare program in Tennessee, Qsource provides hospitals with the technical assistance they need to establish an organizational culture that supports patient safety and to improve clinical processes like surgical care and infection control. Medicare, quality improvement organizations (QIOs), hospitals and patients all have the same goals: safer, more reliable health care.
Health Care-Associated Infections in Hospitals
Hospitals that join in the QIO Program’s health care-associated infection (HAI) initiatives will contribute to as much as a 50% reduction in national HAI rates. The initiative will reduce central line-associated blood stream and catheter-associated urinary tract infections by implementing the Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program (CUSP); Clostridium difficile, and surgical site infections. Hospitals that participate in QIO initiatives can expect to receive technical assistance for reporting HAI data, as well as opportunities for peer-to-peer learning through the statewide LAN, access to and training on evidence-based tools like the central line checklist, support for rapid-cycle improvement, and strategies for spreading success within their hospital.
Qsource works one-on-one with healthcare professionals to improve the quality and reliability of patient care by identifying and reducing factors that may lead to harm. Facilities that engage in QIO Learning and Action Networks and improvement initiatives have access to valuable tools, resources and data reports measuring their progress.
We customize our services to complement each facility’s improvement goals. For example, by leading a root cause analysis, Qsource can help identify changes to processes of care that are most likely to result in better performance and optimum outcomes. Our staff maintains contact with partnering health care providers throughout the improvement initiative, using a combination of on-site consultations, ongoing email and phone support, Learning and Action Network meetings, webinars, and teleconferences, as well as educational training programs in which participants learn from experts and exchange evidence-based clinical interventions.
Among the QIO community, Tennessee’s unique partnership between Qsource, The Department of Health, the CDC and the Tennessee Center for Patient Safety is recognized as a model for the future of healthcare improvement. By sharing the same life-saving vision of reducing HAIs, we are able to pool our resources and better concentrate our efforts for maximum results.
Tennessee Success Stories
Think you can’t make a difference in reducing HAIs? Be inspired by this collection of motivational success stories featuring practical “lessons learned” to help hospitals improve processes of care and adopt a safety culture. Quality improvement staff from other hospitals who wish to share their success stories should contact Anthony Culver, Qsource Innovation Spread Specialist. Qsource promotes innovative best practices on an ongoing basis.
Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis
Laughlin Memorial Hospital
Memorial Healthcare System-Chattanooga
Mercy Health Partners
NorthCrest Medical Center
Stones River & DeKalb Community Hospitals
Takoma Regional Hospital
