20 years of celebrating improvement: Michigan Medicine commemorates Quality Month 

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As Quality Month kicks off, Michigan Medicine is set to celebrate two decades of quality improvement, safety efforts and top-notch patient care!

“This October marks the 20^th anniversary of the first Quality Month celebration held at Michigan Medicine, and we are excited to see how far we have come in improving the quality and safety of care for our patients,” said Steven J. Bernstein, M.D., M.P.H., chief quality officer. “Health care has changed significantly during this time, but what has not changed is our commitment to reducing patient harm and enhancing our processes.”

An opportunity to celebrate

Establishing a yearly Quality Month celebration at Michigan Medicine was spearheaded by Marge Calarco, Ph.D., R.N., former chief nurse executive.

“We created the Quality Month celebration to provide an opportunity for everyone to share their quality improvement work across the health system and to recognize the work that people do every day to make patient care and our systems better,” said Calarco. “Over the past 20 years, it has been exciting to see the growing number of continuous improvement projects that span all departments, disciplines and the health system and the growing partnership, participation and passion that everyone has for improving our work and the lives of our patients and families. It is yet another shining example of the Michigan Difference.”

Since its inception, the Quality Month celebration has grown thanks to quality improvement efforts happening across the organization.

Last year, the event moved to the North Campus Research Complex and grew into a full day of speakers and interactive sessions, while maintaining the traditional celebratory poster session.

“This year, we have more than 80 teams participating in the poster session, including several teams from our partner organizations, MidMichigan Health and Metro Health,” said Linnea Chervenak, M.H.A., senior director of quality at Michigan Medicine. “The poster session continues to offer teams an opportunity to share their work with senior leaders from across the organization and interact with other poster teams to share ideas and learn from one another.”

The tradition continues

Similar to last year, the highlight of Quality Month is the Symposium, which will be held on Oct. 22 in the North Campus Research Complex building 18 dining hall.

A full agenda of the day’s activities is included in the accompanying image.

In addition to the full-day Symposium, the Continuous Quality Improvement Brown Bag session, “Quality Caboodle: Resources available at your fingertips” is also part of the festivities.

On Oct. 15 from noon-1 p.m. in the MCHC Auditorium (F2305), faculty and staff can learn more about quality and safety resources that are available to help them plan and implement improvement projects in their area.

All faculty and staff are invited to attend all events during Quality Month.

Click here to register.