In February, the IHI Open School Chapter at Texas A and M Health Science Center – School of Rural Public Health focused on actively engaging their members by holding two events involving health care institutions. The knowledge gained from their visits
helped Chapter members further understand the importance in quality improvement
in health care today.
Read more about their visits in the write up below by Chapter Leader and President Brandon Lewis, a health administration student at Texas A and M Health Science Center.
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Visit
On February 1, our student Chapter of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Open School hosted three speakers (pictured below with Chapter members) from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center:
- Mr. John Bingham, Vice President of Performance Improvement and Chief Quality Officer
Mr. Bingham directs
organization-wide efforts for quality, including patient safety and
accreditation, quality measurement and engineering, and process improvement and quality education for the
19,000 employees at MD Anderson.
- Dr. Doris Quinn, Director of Process Improvement and Quality Education
Dr. Quinn oversees
clinical process analysis and improvement, and the creation of the “Quality
College” for the education of all staff and faculty.
- Dr. Victoria Jordan, Director, Quality Engineering and Clinical
Operations Informatics
Dr. Jordan leads Quality Engineering and Clinical
Informatics within the Office of Performance Improvement. Quality Engineering
provides expertise to the organization in process and system improvement by
applying quality tools and methodologies that support safety, timeliness,
effectiveness, efficiency, equity, and patient-centeredness.
Their lecture series included a process flow chart
activity, which engaged students in understanding the importance of displaying
and recognizing a process to ensure efficiency. These individuals provided
insight into the quality improvement efforts their organization was pursuing, explained
how to ensure increased quality for patients, and discussed the importance of
quality within health care today.
Austin
Visit
On February 15th, our Chapter (pictured to the right and
below) visited Austin for a day of learning and engagement. The organization
visited Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas, the first hospital in
the world to achieve Platinum
Certification under the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design
(LEED) program sponsored by the United States Green Building Council. While
there, members attended a presentation regarding the hospital’s quality
initiatives and had the opportunity to tour patient areas of the hospital. The
organization then visited the Texas State Capitol, where members had the
pleasure of touring the building, and seeing the House and Senate Chambers,
where lawmakers debate on issues pertaining to quality in health care.
After the tour, members met with Mitizi Ressmann – Executive
Director, and Rachel Cicerchi – Program Manager, of the Texas Center for
Quality and Patient Safety at Texas Hospital Association’s (THA) offices.
There, members viewed a presentation regarding how the Texas Center for Quality
and Patient Safety (TCQPS) engages hospitals around Texas, enhancing efficiency
and quality of care for patients around the state. As a whole, this was an
eventful day, where members had the opportunity to hear from several individuals
regarding the need to incorporate increased quality initiatives into health care.
