Hospital acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs) are devastating to patients. These patients enter the hospital with one ailment and with a pressure injury their hospitalization increases, there is an increased risk for infection and decreased chance at health. Additionally, the costs of a HAPI are absorbed by the hospital. The hospital uses staffing resources, hospital space […]
A prerequisite for universally high quality, equitable care is understanding and addressing how societal/structural inequities affect quality and patient safety in clinical encounters. Yet the ways in which these inequities can permeate and undermine patient care are not always apparent to health care staff and providers.
In Part I of this series, The Impact of Bias on Quality and Patient Safety, participants learned about the contribution of staff/providers’ implicit biases to inequities in quality of care, along with specific evidence-based strategies for preventing biases.
This webinar will further equip participants with knowledge and strategies for preventing another set of potentially invisible yet significant barriers to quality and safety of care. Specifically, participants will learn about the nature and impact of social identity threat and racial trauma, and become equipped with evidence-based strategies for preventing them. Understanding and preventing the deleterious impact of these often overlooked but powerful manifestations of structural inequities is a necessary component of an effective, comprehensive approach to eliminating inequities in health care.
Patient Safety Awareness Week 2020
Despite decades of evidence and thousands of studies demonstrating racial and ethnic inequalities in health care quality and safety, there has been limited progress towards correcting this problem. The lack of progress is especially disturbing in light of the fact that clinicians, providers and health care organizations deeply and sincerely want to provide high quality and safe care to all their patients. This talk focuses on the overlooked factors that are at the root of our lack of progress. Many of our approaches fail to take into account the way we, as humans, actually think about and respond to each other and our world.
Fortunately, there is a large body of scientific evidence regarding the complex interplay of human motives and information processing – and the way they are influenced by social and organizational factors – that can be used to inform interventions and accelerate progress. This presentation will increase participant understanding of the evidence regarding factors that support vs. undermine the ability of health care professionals and organizations to provide unbiased and equally high-quality and safe care to all their patients.
Patient Safety Awareness Week 2022
Addressing racial inequity in healthcare requires focused attention and concerted action. A new initiative in Los Angeles County (now in its third year) is doing just that. Cherished Futures for Black Moms and Babies helps participating hospitals evaluate their data, collaborate with community partners, and implement institutional changes to improve care for Black women, birthing people, and families.
Patient Safety Awareness Week 2022
In this presentation we will discuss who transgender patients are, and review relevant epidemiologic information about this diverse patient population. We will then discuss the treatments and care plans that many patients undergo in the course of care. This discussion will include a brief overview of surgeries, and what these surgeries require from both patients and the institutions who provide care. We will then reflect on how transcare actually contributes to – and improves, care quality for all (i.e. cis-gender) adult and pediatric patients at an institution. Lastly, we will spend time focusing on how culturally sensitive care is, in fact, a safety issue for trans patients that come to our institutions, and, how not delivering culturally competent care should be a concern for institutions.
Community and workplace violence is a significant problem worldwide. Understanding how community-based violence spills over into the work setting is key to developing prevention strategies. When healthcare employees are victims of workplace violence, there can be significant psychological and physical trauma to the involved employee and collateral impacts to other staff. A multi-faceted approach is essential to protect our communities, workforce, patients and visitors from violence and to respond quickly, compassionately, and effectively when violent events occur.
Participants will learn about CommonSpirit’s approach to prevention of community and workplace violence and how one Division is responding to employees who are victims.
Syphilis continues to be a major public health concern in California, aggravated by the public health challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Emergency departments (EDs) represent an important setting to test and treat patients who are not seen in traditional outpatient clinical settings. The UC Davis emergency department has been screening high risk patients for syphilis since 2018. In this webinar, we will share best practices and recent results from this initiative.
In 2020, the United States began experiencing the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Severe disease requires hospitalization, which itself poses risk to one’s health, including the risk of falling while hospitalized. Our interdisciplinary team conducted a retrospective study to describe characteristics of in-patient falls in persons hospitalized with COVID-19, those hospitalized with pending COVID-19 test results, and those with a history of COVID-19. Data used in this study included post-fall documentation from over 100 falls from 23 hospitals across six states. In this presentation, we will share our results, including a description of characteristics of patients who experienced a fall, variables that describe the fall itself, and common contributing factors.
We will also share the implications of these results, including suggestions for how to manage fall risk in patients with COVID-19 and how to maintain a focus on quality improvement initiatives.
Emergency departments (EDs) across the nation are seeing a significant increase in the volume and length of stay of behavioral health patients. This means EDs are caring more for those at the highest risk for suicide attempts. A toolbox with materials to recognize and mitigate ligature risk has been designed for this presentation. Documents will also be shared that demonstrate how to create a safe space for the patient waiting for clearance, how a strong partnership with the county behavioral health team impacts the suicide risk, and how having a solid monitoring and education plan for the staff affects patient safety.
HQI is offering a two-part webinar series, Health Equity Basics for Hospitals. The aim is to provide hospitals with the latest information on how to operationalize and execute actionable strategies to identify and address racial and ethnic disparities.
Achieving equity in quality of care requires that we measure performance. When disparities are identified, improvement interventions must be developed to address them. Multiple equity and quality improvement strategies have proven outcomes. Understanding disparities and choosing the right intervention are critical to achieving equity in quality of care.