Quality and Process Improvement

Foundational elements of quality improvement

Define quality improvement and its scope and impact in pediatric emergency care, distinguish quality assurance from quality improvement, list critical components of the quality improvement process, illustrate via case presentation a pediatric emergency quality improvement opportunity, identify potential quality improvement initiatives via pediatric readiness data

One way to accelerate the process and keep a focus on targeted improvements is through rapid cycle methodology

The emergency department has frequent workflow interruptions, multiple care transitions, and barriers to effective communication. In addition, the high volume of patients, high decision density under time pressure, diagnostic uncertainty, and limited knowledge of patients’ history and preexisting conditions make the safe care of critically ill and injured patients even more challenging.

Gap Analysis Example

The EIIC is focused on improving outcomes for children in emergency situations by using improvement science as the basis for our efforts to address known gaps in the US healthcare system.

Our aim is to accelerate improvements in the quality of care and outcomes for children in need of emergency care through the development of quality improvement (QI) initiatives across the continuum of pediatric care:

AHRQ offers free software to help organizations easily use the AHRQ QIs to generate actionable information about the quality of care they provide. The evidence-based AHRQ QIs provide a standard, trusted approach to quality measurement to guide improvements in patient care.