Improving Patient Care, Reducing Patient Cost
CIR & HHC Host Conference on Patient Safety
In October 2010 CIR and the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation teamed up to host a one-day conference entitled “Improving Patient Safety and Reducing Infections through Effective Teamwork and Communication.”
Dr. Richard Shannon, Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, fired up the room during his keynote presentation with his frank assessment, “The only number that matters [regarding hospital-acquired infections] is ZERO.”
Watch a clip from the keynote address, Creating a Culture of Patient Safety: Is it Possible? Is it Sustainable? Is it Worth it?
DATA MUST BE ACTIONABLE: NO MANIPULATION
Maimonides Quality Improvement Initiative
In their latest round of contract negotiations, Maimonides Medical Center residents saw an opportunity to go beyond salaries, benefits and day-to-day conditions and to focus on broader issues like improving efficiency and the quality of patient care in the hospital. The new three-year contract, ratified in November, puts the hospital in the forefront of New York’s teaching hospitals in efforts to forge an employee-hospital collaboration to improve the quality of healthcare.
» Read more: Maimonides Quality Improvement Initiative
Quality Improvement: NE Regional Training Resource Guide
Health care reform will emphasize quality improvements in healthcare delivery as a means of improving patient care and controlling costs. This will have major implications for residents and their hospitals. At a one-day Northeast Regional CIR meeting held in New York City, residents learned about several examples of programs where housestaff and hospital management are working together to improve patient outcomes.
» Read and download CIR’s Northeast Regional Meeting Resource Guide
Work Hours Redesign
Take the lead in redesigning your residency program
Is your program ready to implement the new ACGME regulations on hours and supervision? Want to learn more about the history surrounding work hours regulations? Study the research and academic studies? Explore best practices from hospitals nationally and internationally?
Experience shows that when residents participate in schedule redesign, all residents benefit from shorter hours, better training and a safer work environment.
» Read more: Gain access to research, best-practice examples and our Work Smart Toolkit
Help Prevent Medical Errors in Your Hospital
According to the 1999 Institute of Medicine report, “To Err is Human”, an estimated 98,000 patients die each year from medical errors. New York CIR members are learning how to help prevent them!
The Near Miss Project, headed up by Dr. Ethan Fried, Director of Graduate Medical Education at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital & a Principal Investigator of the Near Miss Project, educates residents on how to identify and report a near miss, which is an act of omission or commission that could have harmed the patient–IF it had not been caught.
