WIHI - A Podcast from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement

​​​​​​​​​​​​Date: June 1, 2017

Featuring: 

• Bob Wachter, MD, Chair, Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco

​Date: May 18, 2017

Featuring: 

• ​David M. Williams, PhD, Executive Director & Improvement Advisor, Institute for Healthcare Improvement

At IHI, we do our best to keep our fingers on the pulse of the health care improvement world — what trends are emerging, what projects are happening, and what improvers need to do their work. And improvement tools clearly make a difference. In fact, in March of this year, in just one month, you downloaded IHI’s tools about 16,500 times. So, for this WIHI, we want to make sure you’re getting the most out of them, and when to use these tools in your improvement work.

With guidance from improvement experts David Williams and Susan Hannah, we tackled those questions and more on the May 18 WIHI, Seven Popular Improvement Tools: How (and When) to Use Them.

Wondering what improvement tools we focused on?

• ​PDSA

Date: May 3, 2017

Featuring:

• John E. McDonough, DrPH, MPA, Professor of Practice, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health

A lot of the quality and safety improvements that have taken place in recent years in the US — think reducing hospital-acquired infections, creating safety cultures, implementing team-based primary care — have occurred regardless of what was or wasn't happening in Washington, DC. While political debates raged on, somehow the health care quality improvement movem​​ent continued to move ahead. However, with the enactment of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, government became more of a force for change, expanding access to care and insurance, and steering health care toward better value and performance.

To understand what continues to keep some health care leaders up at night, we turned to GBMC Healthcare President and CEO, John Chessare. A member of the IHI Leadership Alliance and a strong proponent of population health and pursuing the Triple Aim, Dr. Chessare says many systems like his are changing for the better in ways most of the public knows nothing about. Dr. Chessare was joined by John McDonough, a prominent and prolific health care policy expert with decades of experience shaping, engaging with, and explaining health care policy.

With the health care policy landscape changing on a daily basis, the May 3 WIHI: The High Stakes of Health Care Policy is a great place to start to understand the journey from the Affordable Care Act to where we may be heading. 

Date: April 20, 2017

Featuring: 

• ​Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, President, The John A. Hartford Foundation

Date: April 6, 2017

Featuring: 

• Kate DeBartolo, National Field Director, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and The Conversation Project (TCP)

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Date: March 23, 2017

Featuring:

• Jose Figueroa, MD, MPH, Instructor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Associate Physician, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

There’s a lot of attention being paid to developing new models to care for and support patients with multiple, complex health problems. And, for good reason. It’s long been known that individuals with chronic, intertwined health and social issues make frequent use of expensive emergency departments or stay away from health care altogether until things get really bad. The motivation of providers to change this situation is strong. So is their desire to find out how others are addressing the problem, to avoid starting from scratch.

That’s where a newly available online resource comes in called The Playbook: Better Care for People with Complex Needs. Spearheaded by five foundations and developed by IHI, this episode of WIHI orients you to the Playbook’s rich offerings. For more information and context on the podcast, we encourage you to download the resources, chat, and slides offered below.

Date: March 9, 2017

Featuring:

• Frederick C. Ryckman, MD, Professor of Surgery, Senior Vice President, Medical Operations, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC)

IHI’s work on hospital flow dates back to the early 2000s. That’s when we and hospital teams started learning about the ways most hospitals scheduled their operating rooms, practically ensuring backups and delays there and in EDs because of the frequent mismatch between planning for emergency surgeries and elective ones. We check in on progress and the issues still bedeviling improvers ― along with the latest on what sorts of changes are necessary on the March 9, 2017, WIHI: The Right Care, Right Setting, and Right Time of Hospital Flow.

Date: February 23, 2017

Featuring:

• Ninon Lewis, MS, Executive Director, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

What do communities in Northeast Wisconsin, Scotland, and Boston have in common? More than you might think. Increasingly, they share a view of what it takes to build coalitions and collaborations that can change the trajectory of people’s lives and health… for the better. And in all three locations, the methods and tools of quality improvement (QI) to tackle socioeconomic issues ― not just health status ― are proving to be a game changer.

Increasingly, we’re recognizing that health care needs to look beyond its walls to better understand and influence the upstream issues impacting health. What we don’t always appreciate is that some communities focused on reducing poverty or creating early childhood pathways to school readiness are now applying the same improvement methodology that’s helped health systems improve care. This increasingly shared mindset bodes well for the creation of more sophisticated alliances across sectors to address many of the underlying contributors to poor health.

To illustrate what this looks like on the ground, the February 23 WIHI shines a light on three community initiatives: the Children and Young People Improvement Collaborative in Scotland  the NE Wisconsin Poverty Outcomes and Improvement Network Team (POINT); and Vital Village (part of SCALE) in Boston. You’ll hear about the role of funders; the enormous difference a broad coalition of stakeholders can make; that relationships matter right along with good leaders; and that improvement skills ―​ knowing how to develop driver diagrams, how to conduct small tests of change, and what and how to measure ―​ can not only be taught, they can move the dial.

Date: February 9, 2017

Featuring:

• Patricia E. Folcarelli, RN, MA, PhD, Interim Vice President, Health Care Quality, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC)

Most of us know what it feels like to have an interaction with someone that can feel rushed, incomplete…maybe even abrupt or downright rude. When that’s the type of encounter patients have with health care providers and staff, it cannot only be upsetting but have other consequences: patients may lose confidence in those overseeing their care, withhold information, and generally withdraw from the treatment process.

One major health system has decided it’s high time we track and label these situations for what they are: emotional harm. They shared with the WIHI audience what led them to become far more proactive about the lack of respectful and dignified engagement with patients; how they hear about and track incidents and complaints; and what strategies they deploy to address the most common offenses.

Find out why they happen, and what steps can be taken to prevent and respond to emotional harm on the February 9 WIHI: Practicing Respect and Preventing Emotional Harm.

Date: January 26, 2017

Featuring:

• Derek Feeley, President and CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)