Direct Oral Anticoagulant: DOAC Playbook

Anticoagulation Forum

Although DOACs require less intensive dose management than warfarin, they are not devoid of potential complications. Anticoagulants have consistently ranked as the class of medications most frequently leading to emergency room visits and hospital admissions for adverse drug events. This toolkit explains how to use DOACs safely and effectively requires that all aspects of anticoagulation therapy are addressed, including appropriate patient selection, dosing, monitoring, transitions between therapies and between care settings, periprocedural guidance, management of risks (including DOAC associated
bleeding), drug-drug interaction management, ongoing assessment of patient and family educational needs, and incorporation of evidence-based practices into workflow.

Best Practice Strategies for Organizational Health Equity

Adapted from HSAG by IPRO QIN-QIO HQIC, Network of Quality Improvement and Innovation Contractors (NQIIC), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Quality Improvement and Innovation Group

This resource provides best practice strategies, tasks, and tools for each of the seven Health Equity Organizational Assessment (HEOA) categories.

Re-Engineered Discharge (RED) Toolkit

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

A variety of forces are pushing hospitals to improve their discharge processes to reduce readmissions. Researchers at the Boston University Medical Center (BUMC) developed and tested the Re-Engineered Discharge (RED). Research showed that the RED was effective at reducing readmissions and posthospital emergency department (ED) visits. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality contracted with BUMC to develop this toolkit to assist hospitals, particularly those that serve diverse populations, to replicate the RED.

Toolkit for Reducing Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infections

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

The Toolkit for Reducing Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSI) can help your unit implement evidence-based practices to reduce and, in many cases, eliminate CLABSI. More than 1,000 intensive care units across the country reduced CLABSI rates by 41 percent when their clinical teams used the tools in this toolkit along with the Core CUSP Toolkit. The Core CUSP Toolkit provides training materials and resources to help clinical teams learn a method that can help them make care safer by combining improved teamwork, clinical best practices, and the science of safety.

CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Provides recommendations for the prescribing of opioid pain medication for patients 18 and older in primary care settings. Recommendations focus on the use of opioids in treating chronic pain (pain lasting longer than 3 months or past the time of normal tissue healing) outside of active cancer treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care. The guideline addresses patient-centered clinical practices including conducting thorough assessments, considering all possible treatments, closely monitoring risks, and safely discontinuing opioids. 

Designing and Delivering Whole-Person Transitional Care; The Hospital Guide to Reducing Medicaid Readmissions

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Reducing readmissions is a national priority for payers, providers, and policymakers seeking to improve health care and lower costs. Readmissions are a significant issue among patients with Medicaid. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) commissioned this guide to identify ways evidence-based strategies to reduce readmissions can be adapted or expanded to better address the transitional care needs of the adult Medicaid population. The guide has been field tested by individual hospitals and groups of hospital quality improvement collaboratives. Based on a series of coaching and feedback calls with hospitals, the second release of this guide has been updated to provide updated tools and clearer guidance on who should use the tools and what to do with the output of the tools. It also offers new tools that can be used in the day-to-day working environment of hospital-based teams and cross-setting partnerships.

Guideline for Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI)

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

This document is intended for use by infection prevention staff, healthcare epidemiologists, healthcare administrators, nurses, other healthcare providers, and persons responsible for developing, implementing, and evaluating infection prevention and control programs for healthcare settings across the continuum of care. The guideline can also be used as a resource for societies or organizations that wish to develop more detailed implementation guidance for
prevention of CAUTI.

Hospital Guide to Reducing Medicaid Readmissions Toolbox

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Offers in depth information about the unique factors driving Medicaid readmissions and a step-by-step process for designing a locally relevant portfolio of strategies to reduce Medicaid readmissions. Toolkit includes patient and family interview process.

Taking Care of Myself: A Guide for When I Leave the Hospital

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

A guide that providers can use to give patients the information they need to help them care for themselves when they leave the hospital. Using this easy-to-read guide with patients during discharge can help them care for themselves when they leave the hospital to track their medication schedules, upcoming medical appointments, and important phone numbers.

How Patient and Family Advisory Councils Can Help Hospitals and Their Communities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

American Institutes for Research (AIR)/IPRO HQIC

COVID-19 is a perfect issue for PFACs to address. The experiences of patients and families can have a direct impact on how the hospital safely treats those with severe cases including those in isolation, prevents the spread of the virus, and minimizes the impact of the virus on health care and health outcomes (e.g., delayed care). This resource provides suggestions about how PFACs can help hospitals proactively communicate, educate, and engage with patients and families and the larger community to build trust and deliver high-quality care during a time of uncertainty and fear.

Managing Acute Respiratory Failure in Small, Rural, and Critical Access Hospitals: Non-Invasive Ventilation & High-Flow Nasal Cannula

This material was developed by IPRO HQIC.

Due to medical-surgical nurses’ limited exposure to managing acute respiratory failure, nurses in rural and critical access hospitals do not always have a comfort level with non-invasive ventilation (NIV) equipment and/or High-Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC). Managing this situation on medical-surgical floors within these smaller hospitals created a void, especially without access to specialty staff who have advanced clinical respiratory experience, lack of critical care beds, and/or the lack of respiratory therapy resources. This is especially true in rural and critical access hospitals, possibly exacerbating adverse events and potentially increasing health disparities (due to access of specialty care issues). This electronic tool provides digestible information to support the front-line in CPAP, BiPAP, and HFNC management.