Advancing Quality & Patient Safety, a podcast by the New Mexico Hospital Association

Episode 11 of Advancing Quality & Patient Safety: Process Design to Improve Patient Outcomes and Employee Satisfaction. This episode features an interview with Doug Johnson, Director of Quality, at Lovelace Medical Center.

Doug is a RN by background and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, while having extensive experience in process improvement.

Doug teaches about the principles of process design, methodologies it aligns with, and tools used to apply it.

He shares with us recent success of utilizing process design at Lovelace Medical Center, specifically with care management, that has resulted in improved patient outcomes while significantly improving employee satisfaction.

Episode 10 of Advancing Quality & Patient Safety features an interview with Christina Campos, the hospital administrator for Guadalupe County Hospital. This hospital was recently crowned as a top 20 rural hospital in the country. Christina gives us insights and stories around their journey to this top ranking.

We learn from Christina about the hospital’s approach to quality improvement and how their focus on quality is preparing them for the emerging changes into value-based care and population health. Christina teaches about the importance of community partnerships for hospitals, and how Guadalupe County has taken a proactive approach to leading efforts in ensuring a healthy and thriving population.

Lastly, Christina shares with us her details around her servant leadership approach in leading a hospital, and why mentorship is crucial to the professional development of a leader. 

Episode 9 features a conversation with Wendi Hulett, Chief Nurse Executive, from Lincoln County Medical Center. Wendi shares with us key practices and efforts surrounding the hospital's success in reducing patient falls. This success led to their receipt of the 2018 Quest for Excellence recognition at the NMHA Quality Awards and a case study developed by AHA. 

Much of the conversation includes insights around the strong patient safety culture that has been established at the hospital. Wendi shares with us their best practices on leadership rounding and patient safety huddles. She teaches us that not only has this strong patient safety culture improved care for patients, but it has facilitated collaboration across their organization and engaged their workforce.

Episode 8 features an interview with the Chief Quality Officer, BranDee Savell, of Nor-Lea Hospital District. Nor-Lea Hospital District recently received the level 4 Zia Award, which is the most prestigious Baldrige recognition at the state level. BranDee educates on the Baldrige Framework, application process, survey process, and how Baldrige aligns with and utilizes many other performance improvement methods. BranDee also shares with us how this framework has not only resulted in improved quality & patient safety outcomes, but also enhancements to the patient experience and improvements in financial outcomes. 

Episode 7 features an interview with Cathy Nicholson, Manager of Quality Programs & Penny Beattie, Chief Nursing Officer of Presbyterian Hospital. They share with us a project they led on the topic of patient handoffs from the Emergency Department to inpatient units. They teach us about "warm" handoffs and how its effective with facilitating better teamwork, patient/family engagement, and improving the patient experience.  

Episode 6 features an interview with Dr. Greenwood-Ericksen of UNM Hospital & UNM School of Medicine. She talks with us about a recent collaborative effort she led nationally with ACEP (American College of Emergency Physicians) for the formation of the Emergency Quality Network. Within that network, best-practices and tool kits were developed for rural emergency departments and their providers for managing sepsis.  Dr. Greenwood-Ericksen also educates us on the CMS Core Measure for sepsis and provides an overview of her research on rural and urban ED's sepsis management performance, recently published in the Journal of Rural Health. 

Episode 5 features an interview with Dr. Lara Goitein, who is the Medical Director of Clinician Directed Performance Improvement (CDPI) at CHRISTUS St. Vincent Health System.  The CDPI program was recognized last year when CHRISTUS St. Vincent Regional Medical Center received the NMHA Quest for Excellence Award.  They were also recognized at IHI's Patient Safety Congress meeting in Boston, MA.  

Dr. Goitein shares with us the mission and structure of CDPI, its intersection with the hospital's traditional quality program, and the effect CDPI has had on improving physician engagement, culture of safety, and reducing patient harm. 

Episode 4 is Part 2 of the series, "Tips For The New Quality Leader; What I Wish Someone Had Told Me"  and features Tony Baird, DSc, MHA, CPHQ, CPPS of Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Tony is the Executive Administrative Director of Medical Staff Services & Clinical Quality at the hospital. 

Tony shares with us the role of mentorship and how it has influenced his development as a quality leader.  He also shares insights on how to engage senior executives with quality and patient safety initiatives, how to be successful with system-wide improvement projects, and what he sees changing in the healthcare quality landscape.   

Episode 3 features an interview with Lisa Thompson, CJCP, CPHRM, CPHQ, TQMC. Lisa is the Chief Quality Officer at Lea Regional Medical Center in Hobbs, New Mexico and has over 30 years of experience in quality leadership.  

Lisa shares her insights on how new quality leaders can become successful in their roles. She speaks about key relationships the quality leader must develop and how to influence change across an organization. Lisa also gives some important guidance on the hospital survey process that includes tips on preparation, survey readiness, and survey etiquette.

  Episode 2 features an interview with leaders from Cibola General Hospital surrounding their population health centered project on improving flu vaccination rates. Listen today to learn more about their usage of process mapping, PDSA implementation, and strategies to engage multiple hospital departments around a shared vision. Their efforts were recognized with a 2018 NMHA Quest for Excellence award and also recently published by AHA into a case study.

Please reach out to the hospital leaders below for more information on their project. 

Ambroshia Mandagaran, Director of Quality and Risk Management; 

Glenna Losito, Co-Chief Nursing Officer; 

Maria Atencio, Co- Chief Nursing Officer; 

Rick Smith, Director of IT; 

Randy Mattila, Hospital Pharmacist;