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1.
JAMA Netw Open ; 7(6): e2414329, 2024 Jun 03.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38829617

ABSTRACT

Importance: Adverse patient events are inevitable in surgical practice. Objectives: To characterize the impact of adverse patient events on surgeons and trainees, identify coping mechanisms, and assess whether current forms of support are sufficient. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this mixed-methods study, a validated survey instrument was adapted and distributed to surgical trainees from 7 programs, and qualitative interviews were conducted with faculty from 4 surgical departments in an urban academic health system. Main Outcomes and Measures: The personal impact of adverse patient events, current coping mechanisms, and desired forms of support. Results: Of 216 invited trainees, 93 (43.1%) completed the survey (49 [52.7%] male; 60 [64.5%] in third postgraduate year or higher; 23 [24.7%] Asian or Pacific Islander, 6 [6.5%] Black, 51 [54.8%] White, and 8 [8.6%] other race; 13 [14.0%] Hispanic or Latinx ethnicity). Twenty-three of 29 (79.3%) invited faculty completed interviews (13 [56.5%] male; median [IQR] years in practice, 11.0 [7.5-20.0]). Of the trainees, 77 (82.8%) endorsed involvement in at least 1 recent adverse event. Most reported embarrassment (67 of 79 trainees [84.8%]), rumination (64 of 78 trainees [82.1%]), and fear of attempting future procedures (51 of 78 trainees [65.4%]); 28 of 78 trainees (35.9%) had considered quitting. Female trainees and trainees who identified as having a race and/or ethnicity other than non-Hispanic White consistently reported more negative consequences compared with male and White trainees. The most desired form of support was the opportunity to discuss the incident with an attending physician (76 of 78 respondents [97.4%]). Similarly, faculty described feelings of guilt and shame, loss of confidence, and distraction after adverse events. Most described the utility of confiding in peers and senior colleagues, although some expressed unwillingness to reach out. Several suggested designating a departmental point person for event debriefing. Conclusions and Relevance: In this mixed-methods study of the personal impact of adverse events on surgeons and trainees, these events were nearly universally experienced and caused significant distress. Providing formal support mechanisms for both surgical trainees and faculty may decrease stigma and restore confidence, particularly for underrepresented groups.


Subject(s)
Surgeons , Humans , Male , Female , Surgeons/psychology , Surgeons/education , Adult , Adaptation, Psychological , Medical Errors/psychology , Medical Errors/statistics & numerical data , Internship and Residency , Surveys and Questionnaires , General Surgery/education
2.
J Asthma ; : 1-9, 2024 Jun 30.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38913112

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Assessing asthma control is an essential part of the outpatient management of children with asthma and can be performed through validated questionnaires such as the Asthma Control Test (ACT). Systematic approaches to incorporating the ACT in outpatient visits are often lacking, contributing to inconsistent completion rates. We conducted a quality improvement initiative to increase the proportion of visits where the ACT is completed for children with asthma in our multi-site pediatric pulmonary clinic network. METHODS: We developed an intervention of sending the ACT questionnaire to patients and caregivers through the electronic patient portal to complete prior to their visits. This strategy was first piloted at one clinic beginning in July 2020 and then expanded to 5 other clinics in the network in October 2020. Our outcome measure was average monthly proportion of visits with a completed ACT, tracked using statistical process control charts. The process measure was method of ACT completion tracked using run charts. RESULTS: At the pilot clinic, average monthly completion rate rose within 3 months of the intervention from 27% to 72% and was sustained more than 22 months. Completion across all clinics increased from 57% pre-intervention to 76% post-intervention. Importantly, the intervention did not rely on clinic staff to administer the questionnaire and did not interfere with existing clinic flow. CONCLUSION: An intervention of delivering the ACT electronically to patients and caregivers for completion prior to visits led to a rapid and sustained improvement in ACT completion rates across a large, pediatric pulmonary clinic network.

3.
Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf ; 49(10): 539-546, 2023 10.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37422425

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: In the increasingly prevalent hub-and-spoke health system model, specialized services are centralized at a hub hospital, while spoke hospitals offer more limited services and transfer patients to the hub as needed. In one urban, academic health system, a community hospital without procedural capabilities was recently incorporated as a spoke. The goal of this study was to assess the timeliness of emergent procedures for patients presenting to the spoke hospital under this model. METHODS: The authors performed a retrospective cohort study of patients transferred from the spoke hospital to the hub hospital for emergency procedures after the health system restructuring (April 2021-October 2022). The primary outcome was the proportion of patients who arrived within their goal transfer time. Secondary outcomes were time from transfer request to procedure start and whether procedure start occurred within guideline-recommended treatment time frames for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), necrotizing soft tissue infection (NSTI), and acute limb ischemia (ALI). RESULTS: A total of 335 patients were transferred for emergency procedural intervention during the study period, most commonly for interventional cardiology (23.9%), endoscopy or colonoscopy (11.0%), or bone or soft tissue debridement (10.7%). Overall, 65.7% of patients were transferred within the goal time. 23.5% of patients with STEMI met goal door-to-balloon time, and more patients with NSTI (55.6%) and ALI (100%) underwent intervention within the guideline-recommended time frame. CONCLUSION: A hub-and-spoke health system model can provide access to specialized procedures in a high-volume, resource-rich setting. However, ongoing performance improvement is required to ensure that patients with emergency conditions receive timely intervention.


Subject(s)
ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction , Humans , Retrospective Studies , Quality Improvement , Hospitals , Time Factors , Patient Transfer
7.
BMJ Qual Saf ; 31(4): 287-296, 2022 04.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33771908

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: A3 problem solving is part of the Lean management approach to quality improvement (QI). However, few tools are available to assess A3 problem-solving skills. The authors sought to develop an assessment tool for problem-solving A3s with an accompanying self-instruction package and to test agreement in assessments made by individuals who teach A3 problem solving. METHODS: After reviewing relevant literature, the authors developed an A3 assessment tool and self-instruction package over five improvement cycles. Lean experts and individuals from two institutions with QI proficiency and experience teaching QI provided iterative feedback on the materials. Tests of inter-rater agreement were conducted in cycles 3, 4 and 5. The final assessment tool was tested in a study involving 12 raters assessing 23 items on six A3s that were modified to enable testing a range of scores. RESULTS: The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for overall assessment of an A3 (rater's mean on 23 items per A3 compared across 12 raters and 6 A3s) was 0.89 (95% CI 0.75 to 0.98), indicating excellent reliability. For the 20 items with appreciable variation in scores across A3s, ICCs ranged from 0.41 to 0.97, indicating fair to excellent reliability. Raters from two institutions scored items similarly (mean ratings of 2.10 and 2.13, p=0.57). Physicians provided marginally higher ratings than QI professionals (mean ratings of 2.17 and 2.00, p=0.003). Raters averaged completing the self-instruction package in 1.5 hours, then rated six A3s in 2.0 hours. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence of the reliability of a tool to assess healthcare QI project proposals that use the A3 problem-solving approach. The tool also demonstrated evidence of measurement, content and construct validity. QI educators and practitioners can use the free online materials to assess learners' A3s, provide formative and summative feedback on QI project proposals and enhance their teaching.


Subject(s)
Health Facilities , Quality Improvement , Delivery of Health Care , Humans , Problem Solving , Reproducibility of Results
9.
J Grad Med Educ ; 13(2): 231-239, 2021 Apr.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33897957

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Quality improvement (QI) is a required component of graduate medical education. Many medical educators struggle to foster an improvement mindset within residents. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a mixed-methods study to compare a Design Thinking (DT) approach to QI education with a Lean, A3 problem-solving approach. We hypothesized that a DT approach would better promote a mentality of continuous improvement, measured by residents' resistance to change. METHODS: Thirty-eight postgraduate year 2 internal medicine residents were divided into 4 cohorts during the 2017-2018 academic year. One cohort participated in an experimental QI curriculum utilizing DT while 3 control cohorts participated in the existing curriculum based on Lean principles. Participants voluntarily completed a quantitative Resistance to Change (RTC) scale pre- and post-curriculum. To inform our understanding of these results, we also conducted semistructured interviews for qualitative thematic analysis. RESULTS: The effect size on the overall RTC score (response rate 92%) was trivial in both groups. Three major themes emerged from the qualitative data: factors influencing the QI learning experience, factors influencing creativity, and general attitudes toward QI. Each contained several subthemes with minimal qualitative differences between groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study found similar results in terms of their effect on attitudes toward systems change, ability to promote creative change agency, and educational experience. Despite positive educational experiences, many residents still did not view systems-based problem-solving as part of their professional identity.


Subject(s)
Internship and Residency , Attitude , Curriculum , Education, Medical, Graduate , Humans , Quality Improvement
10.
Appl Clin Inform ; 12(2): 259-265, 2021 03.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33792010

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: During the initial days of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, hospital-wide practices rapidly evolved, and hospital employees became a critical population for receiving consistent and timely communication about these changes. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to rapidly implement enterprise text messaging as a crisis communication intervention to deliver key COVID-related safety and practice information directly to hospital employees. METHODS: Utilizing a secure text-messaging platform already routinely used in direct patient care, we sent 140-character messages containing targeted pandemic-related updates to on-duty hospital employees three times per week for 13 weeks. This innovation was evaluated through the analysis of aggregate "read" receipts from each message. Effectiveness was assessed by rates of occupational exposures to COVID-19 and by two cross-sectional attitudinal surveys administered to all text-message recipients. RESULTS: On average, each enterprise text message was sent to 1,997 on-duty employees. Analysis of "read" receipts revealed that on average, 60% of messages were consistently read within 24 hours of delivery, 34% were read in 2 hours, and 16% were read in 10 minutes. Readership peaked and fell in the first week of messaging but remained consistent throughout the remainder of the intervention. A survey administered after 2 weeks revealed that 163 (79%) users found enterprise texts "valuable," 152 (73%) users would recommend these texts to their colleagues, and 114 (55%) users preferred texts to email. A second survey at 9 weeks revealed that 109 (80%) users continued to find texts "valuable." Enterprise messaging, in conjunction with the system's larger communication strategy, was associated with a decrease in median daily occupational exposure events (nine events per day premessaging versus one event per day during messaging). CONCLUSION: Enterprise text messages sent to hospital-employee smartphones are an efficient and effective strategy for urgent communications. Hospitals may wish to leverage this technology during times of routine operations and crisis management.


Subject(s)
COVID-19/therapy , Health Personnel , Hospitals , Practice Guidelines as Topic , Text Messaging , Attitude of Health Personnel , COVID-19/epidemiology , Humans , Occupational Exposure , Surveys and Questionnaires
11.
Acad Med ; 96(7): 997-1001, 2021 07 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33735131

ABSTRACT

PROBLEM: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education calls for resident participation in real or simulated interprofessional analysis of a patient safety event. There are far more residents who must participate in these investigations than available institutional root cause analyses (RCAs) to accommodate them. To correct this imbalance, the authors developed an institutionally sponsored, interprofessional RCA simulation program and implemented it across all graduate medical education (GME) residency programs at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. APPROACH: The authors developed RCA simulations based upon authentic adverse events experienced at their institution. To provide relevance to all GME programs, RCA simulation cases varied widely and included examples of errors involving high-risk medications, communication, invasive procedures, and specimen labeling. Each simulation included residents and other health care professionals such as nurses or pharmacists whose disciplines were involved in the actual event. Participants adopted the role of RCA investigation team, and in small groups systematically progressed through the RCA process. OUTCOMES: A total of 289 individuals from 18 residency programs participated in an RCA simulation in 2019-2020. This included 84 interns (29%), 123 residents (43%), 20 attending physicians (7%), and 62 (21%) other health care professionals. There was an increase in ability of GME trainees to correctly identify factors required for an RCA investigation (62% pre vs 80% post, P = .02) and an increase in intent to "always report" for each adverse event category (3% pre vs 37% post, P < .001) following the simulation. NEXT STEPS: The authors plan to expand the RCA simulation program to other GME clinical sites while striving to involve all GME learners in this educational experience at least once during training. Additionally, by collaborating with health system patient safety leaders, they will annually review all new RCAs to identify cases suitable for simulation adaptation.


Subject(s)
Internship and Residency/statistics & numerical data , Interprofessional Education/methods , Root Cause Analysis/methods , Simulation Training/methods , Cooperative Behavior , Education, Medical, Graduate/standards , Education, Medical, Graduate/statistics & numerical data , Health Personnel/education , Humans , Internship and Residency/standards , Interprofessional Relations/ethics , Leadership , Learning/physiology , Outcome Assessment, Health Care , Patient Safety/standards , Pennsylvania , Problem Solving/ethics , Problem Solving/physiology , Problem-Based Learning/methods , Root Cause Analysis/statistics & numerical data , Simulation Training/statistics & numerical data
12.
J Interprof Care ; 35(1): 153-156, 2021.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32078415

ABSTRACT

Planning and coordination among health-care professionals decrease readmission rates, yet workers have few opportunities to learn interprofessionally to improve transitions of care. An interprofessional readmission review curriculum engaged medical residents, pharmacy residents, nurse practitioner students, early-career nurses, and social work students in a critical analysis of readmissions. Learners (N = 98) participated in a 2 h, collaborative learning session to review health records from a patient readmitted within 30 days of discharge and determine plausible root causes for readmissions. A 5-item post-session survey completed by 83 (85%) evaluated knowledge and perceived competencies in transitions of care before and after participation. Significant improvements (p < .001) occurred in ratings for all five items. Two open-ended questions captured learners' perceptions of understanding and appreciating the roles of other disciplines in the discharge process and importance of interprofessional communication. Several themes emerged including understanding gaps in the discharge process, improving interprofessional collaboration and communication, and paying more attention to discharge documentation. This innovative program helped build essential skills to ensure safe discharges by introducing learners to interprofessional perspectives in analyzing root causes for readmissions, strategies to improve discharge planning, and the value of team-based care.


Subject(s)
Interprofessional Relations , Patient Readmission , Cooperative Behavior , Curriculum , Humans , Learning , Patient Care Team , Patient Discharge
14.
BMJ Qual Saf ; 29(8): 645-654, 2020 08.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31796578

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Academic fellowships in quality improvement (QI) and patient safety (PS) have emerged as one strategy to fill a need for physicians who possess this expertise. The authors aimed to characterise the impact of two such programmes on the graduates and their value to the institutions in which they are housed. METHODS: In 2018, a qualitative study of two US QIPS postgraduate fellowship programmes was conducted. Graduates' demographics and titles were collected from programme files,while perspectives of the graduates and their institutional mentors were collected through individual interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Twenty-eight out of 31 graduates (90%) and 16 out of 17 (94%) mentors participated in the study across both institutions. At a median of 3 years (IQR 2-4) postgraduation, QIPS fellowship programme graduates' effort distribution was: 50% clinical care (IQR 30-61.8), 48% QIPS administration (IQR 20-60), 28% QIPS research (IQR 17.5-50) and 15% education (7.1-30.4). 68% of graduates were hired in the health system where they trained. Graduates described learning the requisite hard and soft skills to succeed in QIPS roles. Mentors described the impact of the programme on patient outcomes and increasing the acceptability of the field within academic medicine culture. CONCLUSION: Graduates from two QIPS fellowship programmes and their mentors perceive programmatic benefits related to individual career goal attainment and institutional impact. The results and conceptual framework presented here may be useful to other academic medical centres seeking to develop fellowships for advanced physician training programmes in QIPS.


Subject(s)
Fellowships and Scholarships , Physicians , Education, Medical, Graduate , Humans , Patient Safety , Quality Improvement
17.
J Patient Exp ; 6(2): 110-116, 2019 Jun.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31218256

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: We assessed whether provider sitting influenced patient satisfaction in an academic emergency department (ED) and if education and/or environmental manipulation could nudge providers to sit. METHODS: This was a prospective, controlled pre-post trial of provider sitting and its influence on patient satisfaction within 2 urban, academic EDs. A 12-item survey was administered to a convenience sample of patients to assess for care satisfaction before, during, and after study interventions. Study interventions included (a) placement of branded folding seats and (b) an educational campaign. Only the intervention ED received folding seats. The primary outcome examined the influence of provider sitting on patient satisfaction. A secondary outcome examined the frequency of provider sitting. RESULTS: During the entire study period, 2827 patients were surveyed; 63% were female and 65% were between the ages of 26 and 65. Sitting at any point during an ED encounter improved responses to satisfaction questions (polite [67% vs 59%], cared [64% vs 54%], listened [60% vs 52%], informed [57% vs 47%], time [56% vs 45%], P < .0001 for all measures). The odds of provider sitting increased 30% when a seat was placed in the room (odds ratio [OR] = 1.3, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1-1.5). No change in provider sitting was observed in the control ED (OR = 1.0, 95% CI: 0.8-1.2). CONCLUSIONS: Placing a seat in a patient's room nudges providers to sit during an ED encounter. Education alone did not influence provider behavior. Sitting down resulted in significantly higher patient satisfaction scores during an ED visit.

20.
J Hosp Med ; 14(6): 353-356, 2019 06 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30794135

ABSTRACT

Incidental pulmonary nodules (IPNs) are common and often require follow-up. The Fleischner Society guidelines were created to support IPN management. We developed a 14-item survey to examine hospitalists' exposure to and management of IPNs. The survey targeted attendees of the 2016 Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) annual conference. We recruited 174 attendees. In total, 82% were identified as hospitalist physicians and 7% as advanced practice providers; 63% practiced for >5 years and 62% supervised trainees. All reported seeing ≥1 IPN case in the past six months, with 39% seeing three to five cases and 39% seeing six or more cases. Notwithstanding, 42% were unfamiliar with the Fleischner Society guidelines. When determining the IPN follow-up, 83% used radiology report recommendations, 64% consulted national or international guidelines, and 34% contacted radiologists; 34% agreed that determining the follow-up was challenging; only 15% reported availability of automated tracking systems. In conclusion, despite frequent IPN exposure, hospitalists are frequently unaware of the Fleischner Society guidelines and rely on radiologists' recommendations.


Subject(s)
Guideline Adherence/statistics & numerical data , Hospitalists/statistics & numerical data , Incidental Findings , Lung Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Solitary Pulmonary Nodule/diagnostic imaging , Tomography, X-Ray Computed/standards , Aftercare/standards , Guideline Adherence/standards , Humans , Surveys and Questionnaires
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