Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Teamwork Leads Turnaround

Overcoming transition challenges requires tenacity and teamwork. During a time of transition before new hospital ownership, AHMC Anaheim Regional Medical Center, a 223-bed hospital in California, experienced significant staff turnover and a falloff in performance improvement efforts in clinical quality. Compliance with Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) core measures dipped dramatically. In response, Quality Services formed a multidisciplinary performance improvement team chaired by chief of surgery Kim Brandau, M.D., and composed of anesthesiologists, nursing directors from surgery and inpatient units, staff from case management, infection control, pharmacy services and quality services, and front-line staff. The team used a fallout/strategy grid, which included each fallout?s root cause and responsible party, to develop effective corrective actions. "We got real-time information and acted on it immediately," Brandau explains. Educating staff and emphasizing shared accountability for patients were key. "All of our departments have the power of the team behind them," adds Brandau. As a result, from June 2010 through June 2011, compliance on SCIP measures increased from 53.9 percent to 85.6 percent, a 58.8 percent improvement. For more information, contact Marie Trembath, executive director, quality services, at marie.trembath@ahmchealth.com.