HQIC Quality Improvement Basics Series 
Alliant Health Solutions is hosting a three-part series focused on quality improvement models and tools, process improvement, developing a quality improvement team and helpful resources. View Agenda
These 30-minute sessions will be held on the dates below from 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT.
Register for all three sessions today to reserve your space.
Session 1: Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022 - Register Here
Session 2: Thursday, March 3, 2022 – Register Here 
Session 3: Thursday, April 7, 2022 – Register Here 

Alliant HQIC Quality Leader Summit
Recorded on January 18 
The Alliant Hospital Quality Improvement Contractor (HQIC) team provided a summary of the Year One accomplishments to date for our 150 enrolled hospitals. Hospitals provided testimonials to the exceptional support from Alliant HQIC and partners in infection prevention technical assistance, use of the hospital portal and data analysis, performance improvement coaching and presenting on a national level. In addition, a demo of the hospital portal was given, along with what’s on the horizon for 2022.
View Recording | View Presentation

Past Learning and Action Network (LAN) Events

One Hospital’s Journey to a Culture of Health Equity: Lessons Learned from a Rural Community
Recorded on November 23 
In this webinar, participants learned about the population health initiatives at Jefferson Healthcare, a rural health system located in Port Townsend, Washington. In 2020, a robust health equity initiative was started that strategically overlapped with hospital operations and focused on the quality and patient safety program. This session presented an overview of Jefferson Healthcare’s culture of equity journey, explained how data was used to drive decision-making for performance improvement and highlighted tools and resources to enhance health equity.
View Recording | View Slides | Change Pathway 

View All Upcoming Events Here

Alliant HQIC Online Portal 
Access the Alliant HQIC portal to view your assessments and measurement data, and chat with other HQIC-enrolled hospitals to share best practices, barriers and solutions. Download Portal Instructions to Get Started 

Behavioral Health/Opioid Stewardship

Study Examines Patient Outcomes After Opioid Dose Reduction 
Opiates are a high-risk medication due to the potential for adverse events, including misuse and overdose. A study published by the Patient Safety Network examined whether dose reduction or discontinuation after high-dose chronic opioid therapy is associated with suicide, overdose or other adverse events. In a cohort of Oregon Medicaid recipients, discontinuation increased the risk for suicide or opioid-related adverse events. Patients with stable or increasing doses had an increased risk of overdose. Learn More 

​​​​​​Patient Safety​​​​​

Winter Is Coming: Adding Protective Layers on Patients To Prevent Harm 
Unprecedented surges of patient hospitalizations, staffing shortages and limited family visitation during the recent past have had a significant effect on patient outcomes. To mitigate the effect of increases in hospitalization rates and staffing challenges that hospitals potentially face this winter, Convergence HQIC created a helpful resource for establishing a layer of protection on patients to prevent harm. Download the Resource

Quality and Safety Require System Solutions 
Why are some facilities able to respond more quickly to pandemic needs, such as PPE, supplies and virtual care? Because of high-reliability systems using a quality framework. The framework is the organizational structure for quality improvement—not just the PDSA tool.

1. Set a goal to be a high-reliability organization.
2. Your organizational culture matters—strong leadership commitment and modeling. The frontline informs the processes. 
3. Quality and safety frame all key decisions. Gather information, share it, use it, close gaps.

The IHI framework includes safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable care.
Learn more:

• IHI Framework for Safe Reliable and Effective Care
• Leading a Culture of Safety: A Blueprint for Success
• IHI Is Your Organization-Highly-Reliable

Adverse Drug Events

Review Finds 5% to 37% of Patients Experience a Medication Dosing Error 
Although direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DAOCs) are generally considered safer than older anticoagulants, they are still high-risk medications. A review found that between 5.3% and 37.3% of patients experienced a prescription, administration or dosing error. Prescribing errors constituted the majority of error types, and common causes were active failures, including wrong drug or wrong dose. Learn More

Hospital Highlights Use of Missed Opportunity Form 
Russell Medical Center, an 81-bed hospital located in Alexander City, Ala., continues to provide high-quality patient care by using a Missed Opportunity Form to identify adverse drug events and communicate to appropriate provider. Russell Medical Center discussed their quality improvement efforts on the Dec. 28 Patient Safety Network on Adverse Drug Events. View Presentation 


NHSN

Alliant NHSN Survival Guide Now Available 
Alliant’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Survival Guide is a quick reference resource to help improve the quality of your NHSN data. If you are not currently reporting HAI data to NHSN, please consider making it a standard infection prevention practice to include in your facility’s infection prevention plan. Download Survival Guide

Antibiotic Stewardship

Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
Check out The National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (CARB), 2020-2025. This plan is based on the U.S. Government’s 2014 National Strategy for CARB, and builds on the first National Action Plan released in 2015 by expanding evidence-based activities that have already been shown to reduce antibiotic resistance, such as optimizing the use of antibiotics in human and animal health settings. View the Plan

Pressure Injuries

COVID-19 Resources for Pressure Injury Prevention
The National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel (NPIAP) is an independent nonprofit professional organization dedicated to the prevention and management of pressure injuries. Click Here to read their paper "Unavoidable Pressure Injury during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Position Paper from the NPAIP."

NPIAP Tip Sheet for Pressure Injury Prevention
The NPIAP created a helpful tip sheet for prone positioning to prevent pressure injuries. Download Tip Sheet

Additional Pressure Injury Resources
The following articles offer additional information on pressure injuries:

• Medical Device-Related Pressure Injuries During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Pressure Injury Prevention in COVID-19 Patients With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
• Bedsores kill over 60K people in the US each year. Amid COVID, experts worry more may be at risk
• The Importance of Pressure Injury Evidence During COVID-19
• AHRQ Comprehensive Skin Assessment Video

​​​​​​Patient and Family Engagement

Restarting and Energizing PFACs–Easy to Implement How-To-Lists 
The Consumers for Advancing Patient Safety (CAPS) is an organization that envisions a partnership between consumers and providers to create global health care systems that are safe, compassionate and just. Click Here for the Recruiting Patients for your PFAC How-To List.

​​​​​​Health Equity

Achieving Health Equity 
Are your NQIIC communities re-examining their health equity initiatives? This two-hour online course from the CMS Medicare Learning Network presents education on identifying and eliminating health disparities in organizations. Health equity improves the quality of health care for the individuals and families in NQIIC communities and aligns your stakeholders’ efforts with CMS strategic goals. Take the Course

​​​​​​Readmissions/Care Transitions 

STEADI Initiative Focuses on Older Adult Fall Prevention
The CDC’s Injury Center created the STEADI Initiative for health care providers who treat older adults at risk of falling or who may have fallen in the past. As a health care provider, you are already aware that falls are a serious threat to the health and well-being of older patients. More than one out of four people 65 and older falls each year, and over 3 million are treated in emergency departments annually for fall injuries. Health care providers play an important role in caring for older adults and can help reduce these devastating injuries. Learn More​​​​

COVID-19 Care

Using the Comprehensive Hospital Pandemic Preparedness Checklist for COVID-19 
The Comprehensive Hospital Pandemic Preparedness Checklist for COVID-19 learning module, part of the CDC's Standards, Approaches and Tactics for Infection Control & Prevention (StAT) Learning Series for hospital clinical staff and leaders, can help position hospitals to be prepared to identify and treat cases of COVID-19—including a potential surge in cases—and how to prevent the spread of disease in their facility. 

Vaccination Disparities Narrowing
As of mid-January, federal data from the CDC show that 74.4% of the U.S. population have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. While vaccination coverage has increased, it remains uneven across the country. Amid the current omicron variant-related surge, unvaccinated people are at particularly increased risk for infection, severe illness and death. As of January 10, 2022, white people accounted for the largest share (65%) of unvaccinated people. Throughout the vaccination rollout, Black and Hispanic people have been less likely than their white counterparts to receive a vaccine, but these disparities have narrowed over time, particularly for Hispanic people. With booster shot eligibility expanded to all individuals ages 12 and older and children ages 5-11 eligible for vaccination, ensuring equity in the uptake of booster shots and vaccinations among children is also important. However, to date, limited data are available to examine disparities among booster shot recipients and children. Learn More

COVID-19 Vaccine Resources

​​​​​Alliant Health Solutions COVID-19 Vaccine Resources
Curated resources and best practices to support long-term care facilities, clinics, providers, and staff as they navigate vaccine distribution. Alliant Health Solutions COVID-19 Vaccine Resources

Georgia Hospital Receives Patient Safety and Quality Award
The Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA) Patient Safety and Quality Awards recognized Memorial Hospital and Manor, in Bainbridge, Ga., for their project “Improving SEP-1 Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock Outcomes” that increased compliance with sepsis best practices. Memorial Hospital and Manor’s project was awarded third place in the Hospitals With Less Than 100 Beds category. The hospital shared this key lesson learned: Always communicate on system-wide processes when it comes to patient safety and quality. Communication is key.

Washington Hospital Dramatically Reduces Its SSI Rate 
Between 2012 to 2015, Newport Hospital and Health Services, a 24-bed rural critical access hospital in Newport, Wash., discovered its surgical site infection (SSI) rates had increased from 1.6% to 2.4%. Although the total number of infections over the four years was only 12, the hospital conducted in-depth analyses and structured brainstorming to find the potential root causes for the increase.

It was determined that the relatively higher infection rates in 2012 and 2015 were associated with post-surgery MRSA infections, one each in 2012 and 2015. A root-cause analysis of these infections revealed that MRSA swabbing and test results in advance of the surgery would have identified MRSA and allowed for pre-surgery treatment, offering the patient an improved chance of an infection-free recovery period. Although the hospital has strong infection practices in our surgery department, the MRSA cases exposed a process gap that it sought to countermeasure with grant funds. Newport Hospital and Health Services developed the following processes and initiatives as part of their SSI reduction plan: