Author: IPRO

COVID-19 Lessons Learned (whitepaper): A Resource for Recovery

Co-authored by Deloitte & Joint Commission Resources

The whitepaper catalogues a broad array of lessons learned identified during the period of March through August 2020. These lessons learned are based on discussions with a diverse group of health care leaders; assessments of readiness/preparedness efforts across national, regional and local stakeholders; and a review of public documents. The considerations in this whitepaper include observed best practices adopted by organizations throughout the COVID-19 response. For each health care domain and associated issues, it lays out specific actions that organizations have taken to address them and provides access to guidance and tools that health care leaders can use to create and enact their own plan to address these challenges. Some of the wide array of health care domains covered in this in-depth resource include:

  • Leadership
  • Emergency readiness and crisis response
  • Infection control
  • Patient safety and high reliability
  • Communications and change management

COVID-19 Resources for Hospitals

Patient Safety Movement

  • Activate incident command systems.
  • Ensure there is an adequate supply of PPE, ventilators, and other supplies and equipment.
  • Maintain ethical standards when allocating resources.
  • Have a plan for continued surge.
  • Ensure safe staffing levels.
  • Routinely analyze your facility’s risk.
  • Embrace continuous improvement and a culture of safety.
  • Establish safe discharge practices.
  • Ensure that proper cleaning protocols are implemented.
  • Continuously involve patients, family members, and members of the general public in conversations around improvement. 
  • Create a plan to resume normal operations.
  • Take care of your people, so they can better care for patients.

The Importance of a PFAC at a Critical Access Hospital

American Institutes for Research

To motivate senior leaders at rural and critical access hospitals to create and engage Patient- and Family-Engagement Councils (or PFECs), the American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences (AIR) created a video testimonial with comments from the CEO, COO, PFEC staffer and patient representative at a critical access hospital in Truckee, CA on the benefits of a PFEC This 3.5 minute video was created as part of AIR’s Patient- and Family-Engagement efforts with the Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks (HIINs) in collaboration with the Health Services Advisory Group (HSAG) HIIN.

Action and Impact: What’s Your Person and Family Engagement Story?

American Institute for Research

This video was developed to showcase how Patient and Family Advisors are creating and supporting action-based quality improvement initiatives in hospitals across the country. Through first-hand stories from HIIN and hospital Patient and Family Engagement Leaders and Patient and Family Advisors, the video showcases the impact that advisors have on quality and safety.

Guide to Patient and Family Engagement in Hospital Quality and Safety

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Research shows that when patients are engaged in their health care, it can lead to measurable improvements in safety and quality.  To promote stronger engagement, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) developed a guide to help patients, families, and health professionals work together as partners to promote improvements in care. This guide focuses on four primary strategies for promoting patient/family engagement in hospital safety and quality of care:

  • Encourage patients and family members to participate as advisors.
  • Promote better communication among patients, family members, and health care professionals from the point of admission.
  • Implement safe continuity of care by keeping the patient and family informed through nurse bedside change-of-shift reports.
  • Engage patients and families in discharge planning throughout the hospital stay.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Partner Resources

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking action to protect the health and safety of our nation’s patients and providers in the wake of the 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

CMS has compiled these resources to help you stay informed on CMS, HHS CDC and other materials and resources available on the COVID-19 vaccine. Please share these materials, bookmark the page, and check back often for the most up-to-date information.

STRIVE Infection Control Training

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

The CDC/STRIVE curriculum was developed by national infection prevention experts led by the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) for CDC. Courses address both the technical and foundational elements of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) prevention. Courses can be taken in any order. Each course has 1 or more modules. Individual modules can be used for; new employee training, annual infection prevention training, and/or periodic training.

Toolkit To Improve Safety for Mechanically Ventilated Patients

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

The Toolkit To Improve Safety for Mechanically Ventilated Patients helps hospitals make care safer for mechanically ventilated patients in intensive care units (ICUs).  ICU staff can use the toolkit to apply the proven principles and methods of AHRQ’s Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) to reduce complications for patients on ventilators. Such complications include ventilator-associated pneumonia, which affects as many as 20 percent of patients who are on a ventilator for more than 48 hours. The toolkit includes resources used by hospitals that participated in the AHRQ Safety Program for Mechanically Ventilated Patients project.

CUSP Guide for Reducing Ventilator Associated Events in Mechanically Ventilated Patients

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

You can redesign your care system through technical and adaptive work to improve patient safety and eliminate preventable harm. Technical work focuses on procedural aspects of care that can be explicitly defined, such as the evidence to support a specific intervention or the definition for a ventilator-associated event (VAE). Adaptive work targets the attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors of the people who deliver care. The five-step CUSP process brings adaptive work into the change process and helps your team improve your unit’s safety culture. By integrating CUSP with technical interventions, your team can achieve real and sustainable improvements in safety.