Data to Decisions eBulletin #83: More tools for continuous improvement

In this issue

• Transitions in Tilbury
• Help with patient surveys and QIPs
• Developing a tool to help manage patients with dementia
• More tools to help you keep getting better

Transitions in Tilbury

Last month, we shared the resources from Focus on Follow-Up, which included lots of innovative projects from our teams in the North East. But great things are happening all over! In case you missed Tilbury’s conference presentation, you can check out the slide deck here. In a hurry? Watch the trailer below. Want evidence that timely follow-up saves lives and makes our health system more sustainable?

• Check out this article, published last month in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
• Watch Falling Through the Cracks: Greg’s Story. This short film tells the true story of Greg Price, a young man who died of testicular cancer after falling through the cracks in Alberta’s health-care system. It’s become a teaching tool for medical students at the University of Calgary. Wide release is coming this spring, but you can watch it online on January 24^th as part of HQO’s Quality Rounds.

Help with patient surveys and QIPs

Just in time for QIP season: A new tool that can automate your patient surveys and help you build your 2019-20 Quality Improvement Plan. We know that patient experience surveys are a great source of data, but we also know that distributing them and gathering the data can be time-consuming and difficult. HQI is a brand-new patient engagement & quality improvement tool from Cliniconex that uses your EMR to automate the process. It sends out patient experience surveys after they visit your team, then gathers and analyzes the data for you. Its dashboard function lets you track your performance over time and compare your aggregate results with your peers. HQI can also help you move from measurement to improvement. It allows you to spend less time gathering and formatting your survey data and more time developing QI initiatives. As you look at your data, it takes you step-by-step through the process of recording your insights, goals, and change ideas, and it turns these into a quality improvement plan (QIP) using Health Quality Ontario’s QIP template.

• Want to know more? Check out this sneak peek of HQI that was shared with “the Q” – QIDSS, QIIMS, Data & Quality Coaches, and QIDSS-like folks – on a webinar back in December.
• Want to see if your team fits the profile? Schedule a follow-up session for your team. Email sales@cliniconex.com or call 1-844-891-8492.

Developing a tool to help manage patients with dementia

Are you a family physician who assesses patients with dementia? Maybe you wish you had better tools to support you in this work, or you have ideas about what would make such a tool great. Here’s a chance for you to share these ideas and help create some tools that will make it easier for clinicians like you to make good assessments! Researchers at Queen’s and Ryerson Universities and Bridgepoint Active Healthcare are developing an eLearning platform for dementia assessment and management. To help them get it right, they’re conducting focus group sessions with clinicians from January through March. You’ll only need to attend one session, no longer than two hours, and you’ll receive an honorarium to offset the costs of travel and taking time away from work. There’s also an opportunity to participate remotely if travelling to Toronto or Kingston would present a barrier. Want to learn more? Ready to sign up? Email Lorraine Pirrie or Carolyn Steele-Gray. Or call Carolyn at 416-461-8252 x 2908.

More tools to help you keep getting better

Our partners at the Excellence through Quality Improvement Project (E-QIP) are presenting a series of webinars to support your team’s QI efforts. See below for times, dates, and links to register.

• ENCORE WEBINAR: Primer on Governance & Leadership of Quality Improvement – key messages for boards. Thursday, January 24, 10:00-11:30am.
• Enhancing joy in work for professionals through healthcare improvement with Dr. Chris Hayes. Tuesday, February 5, 11:30am-12:30pm.
• Sustaining your gains: A discussion on challenges of sustaining QI success & preventing the risks of short-lived improvements. Thursday, March 21, 12:00-1:15pm.

In Case You Missed It: Check out eBulletin #82 or other back issues here!

Questions? Comments? Connect with the QIDS team at improve@afhto.ca.