All-or-none measurement raises the bar on performance

Nolan T, Berwick DM. All-or-none measurement raises the bar on performance. Journal of the American Medical Association. Mar 2006;295(10):1168-1170.

All major quality measurement systems use science-based indicators of proper processes of care. In this article the authors describe three different measurement options — item-by-item, composite, and all-or-none measurement — then contend that the all-or-none approach offers distinct advantages for achieving optimal patient care.

Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative: Increasing organ donation through system redesign

Shafer TJ, Wagner D, Chessare J, Zampiello FA, McBride V, Perdue J. Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative: Increasing organ donation through system redesign. Critical Care Nurse. Apr 2006;26(2):33-48.

The Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative was initiated in April 2003 by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson and others. The goal of the Collaborative: to dramatically increase access to transplantable organs in the US health care system. The authors describe the system redesign and results achieved using the Collaborative methodology developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. The Collaborative has led to major increases in conversion rates at the participating hospitals as well as to national increases in organ donations.

Finding the balance between quality and cost

Nolan T, Bisognano M. Finding the balance between quality and cost. Healthcare Financial Management. Apr 2006;60(4):66-72.

What's the answer to improving the value if health care? One group believes hospitals could take a lesson from Japanese quality expert Noriaki Kano. At a time when consumer demand for value in health care — both in terms of quality and price — has never been higher, Kano could share important insights with hospital CFOs and clinicians alike.

 

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The 100,000 Lives Campaign: Setting a goal and a deadline for improving health care quality

Berwick DM, Calkins DR, McCannon CJ, Hackbarth AD. The 100,000 Lives Campaign: Setting a goal and a deadline for improving health care quality. Journal of the American Medical Association. Jan 2006;295(3):324-327.

In this article, Don Berwick and others describe IHI's 100,000 Lives Campaign and its six interventions that can help save the lives of thousands of patients.

 

A Guide to Idealized Design

Moen R. A Guide to Idealized Design. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Institute for Healthcare Improvement; 2002.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement created Idealized Design to bring together organizations committed to comprehensive system redesign. New levels of performance can be achieved only through dramatic system-level redesign. Idealized Design enables the system to perform better in the future than the best it can do today. This guide describes the Idealized Design process in detail.

 

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Broadening the view of evidence-based medicine

Berwick DM. Broadening the view of evidence-based medicine. Quality and Safety in Health Care. Oct 2005;14(5):315-316.

This article is a commentary on an article by Frank Davidoff and Paul Batalden ["Toward stronger evidence on quality improvement: Draft publication guidelines"] which presents draft guidelines for writing and publishing reports on the experiences and results of quality improvement projects. Dr. Berwick argues that we need to open up to a new wave of disciplined methods of learning from reflective practice and disciplined methods of sharing the learning through transparent, accurate, and complete published reports — such as with the use of publication guidelines.

Toward stronger evidence on quality improvement. Draft publication guidelines: The beginning of a consensus project

Davidoff F, Batalden P. Toward stronger evidence on quality improvement. Draft publication guidelines: The beginning of a consensus project. Quality and Safety in Health Care. Oct 2005;14(5):319-325.

Unfortunately, scholarly accounts of the methods, experiences, and results of most medical quality improvement work are not published, either in print or electronic form.  The authors of this article try to create a set of guidelines for the writing and publishing of reports on health care improvement endeavors.

A Need to Transform the US Health Care System: Improving Access, Quality, and Efficiency

Gauthier A, Serber M
New York, New York: The Commonwealth Fund; 2005

The need for fundamental transformation of the US health care system has become increasingly apparent. Research reveals a fragmented system fraught with waste and inefficiency. Among industrialized nations, the United States spends well over twice the per capita average. High spending, however, has not translated into better health. The charts presented paint a stark picture of a health system in need of reform. The chartbook is free to download from The Commonwealth Fund website.

Curing Health Care

Berwick DM, Godfrey AB, Roessner J
San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass; 2002

A report on the National Demonstration Project on Quality Improvement in Health Care, this book describes how health care managers can apply modern methods of total quality management to help recapture control and hope in a time of frustration and skyrocketing costs. The book demonstrates what works and does not work in actual practice, presenting case examples of specific health care improvement projects.

Performance of number-between g-type statistical control charts for monitoring adverse events

Benneyan JC. Performance of number-between g-type statistical control charts for monitoring adverse events. Health Care Management Science. Dec 2001;4(4):319-336.

This article investigates the statistical properties of these new charts and illustrates several design considerations that can significantly improve their operating characteristics and sensitivity, including the use of within-limit rules, a new in-control rule, redefined Bernoulli trials, and probability-based limits.

 

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