Building our BASE: Quality Month celebrates those performing vital work toward U-M Health priorities

Every October is Quality Month, a chance to highlight important improvement work happening across Michigan Medicine.

This year’s celebration is no different — and, in fact, it gives the organization a unique opportunity to shine the spotlight on the work being performed that aligns with the U-M Health “Build our BASE” priorities outlined by U-M Health President David Miller, M.D., last week.

“Every year, we hold a poster session where our colleagues share the wonderful improvement projects they’ve been working on,” said Kevin DeHority, chair of the Quality Month committee. “Most of them connect to the Safety & Quality priority, however this year, we had posters connecting to all of our BASE+S priorities.”

Here’s a breakdown of just a few of the projects — and the priorities they align with — that will be featured during this year’s Quality Month poster sessions, which will be held virtually:

B — Belonging: Promote and advance an inclusive, anti-racist culture, improve health care equity and reduce health disparities

A team studied initial data of scheduling invitations to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, which revealed inefficiencies and inequities. A phased invitation strategy was developed and partnered with targeted communications, resulting in the increased invitation issuance and appointment uptake by appointment uptake by patients who are high on the social vulnerability index and minority patient groups.

A — Access: Enhance timely and equitable access to the optimal care setting for patients and populations

Limited access to clinics and patient hesitancy to return to a clinical setting for blood pressure checks often leads to overlooked health concerns. That’s why one team developed a pharmacist-led program in empty north campus space to provide a COVID-19 safe (ie. no waiting room and all social distancing and masking precautions taken) option for referring providers to have a patient’s blood pressure checked. Patients involved have reported improved medication management, blood pressure control and excellent patient satisfaction.

S — Safety & Quality: Develop a high reliability culture with a focus on improving patient outcomes and reducing employee and patient harm, including hospital-acquired conditions (HACs)

As seen in Headlines, on digital signs and through more concentrated communication and other efforts, the organization has focused on spotting sepsis and stopping sepsis early. In response, the percent of adult inpatient septic patients with a sepsis alert increased from 0% to 80%, paving the way to reduced mortality rates.

Additionally, a team aimed to identify and improve any gaps in pharmacy preparation for first dose antibiotic treatment of sepsis. Based on the data, turnaround time for first-dose antibiotics has been improved.

Other sepsis-related projects included one that decreased the time from arrival to fluid orders for septic shock patients in the emergency department from 53 minutes to 41 minutes, paving the way to reduced mortality rates; and U-M Health West improved the use of intraoperative skin antisepsis, which is a component in preventing surgical site infections. All procedural areas have now adopted the practice.

E — Experience: Improve our shared experience by enhancing employee engagement and wellness, and our communication with patients and families.

A Michigan Medicine team had the goal of providing the appropriate level of immediate neonatal care in infants with prenatal-diagnosed congenital heart disease (CHD) by using standardized verbiage and clinical care coordination notes. This was designed to improve family-centered care for parents and family members. The project has increased parental bonding prior to admission and improved the patient experience for those managing CHD in their children.

A month-long celebration

In all, 21 projects supporting the strategic priorities, of the 89 total, will be featured across four poster sharing sessions during Quality Month 2021. All posters can be reviewed on the Quality Month website with many of them including an audio file allowing you to listen to a summary of the work as told by the poster team.

The month officially kicks off this Wednesday, Oct. 6, from 9 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. with the keynote address delivered by J. Bryan Sexton, Ph.D. Sexton is the director of the Duke University Center for Healthcare Safety & Quality, and he will deliver a talk entitled “Bite Size Well-Being During Times of Uncertainty.”

A virtual poster session will follow from noon-1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 7, featuring:

• Inpatient Consult Note Turnaround Time, presented by Angy Perez Martinez
• Better for Babies: Implementing the Eat-Sleep-Console Program with Babies and Families Affected by Opioids, presented by Maria Skoczylas
• 12W Fall Sign: Communicating fall risk and prevention with staff patients and families, presented by Jen Kelley
• Enhanced care of children with autism, presented by Michelle Stanley
• Improving Bowel Function in Spinal Surgery Patients, presented by Shelly Mouw
• Medication Formulary Review Process: Steps Taken to Improve Efficiency, presented by Erin Helmkamp

A full calendar of events for the month can be found here. All events are online and will utilize Zoom for interactivity, and the same link (see below) will enable access to every event. Visit the Quality Month website for more information and to download calendar invites for the various sessions that interest you.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://umich-health.zoom.us/j/99440451882?pwd=b29aYWNHUzlOQzJpeS9BbXFDMjlDUT09
Phone: 1-312-626-6799
Meeting ID: 994 4045 1882
Passcode: 933862

It is recommended that you register here for Quality Month. This doesn’t commit you to anything and will give you the ability to:

• Learn more about the various sessions including descriptions, learning objectives, and speaker bios
• Download calendar invites for the sessions you are interested in (note: you can also download the calendar invites from the Quality Month website linked above)
• Receive weekly updates throughout the month of October
• Access slides and other key materials from the various sessions
• Interact with and learn from registered participants throughout the month
• Access session recordings post-event

As always, the Quality Month team looks forward to connecting, sharing and learning alongside you!

Learn even more about Quality Month on the latest episode of The Wrap employee podcast! Check it out via the YouTube video at the top of the page or media player below. Please note, the media player is not compatible with Internet Explorer, so open this story in a new browser or search for The Wrap on your personal device to take a listen.