Patient Care Process

The Re-Engineered Discharge project at Boston Medical Center standardizes the hospital discharge process through use of 11 separate but mutually reinforcing steps that health care professionals follow from patient admission to postdischarge.

A comprehensive hospital program that includes standardized protocols and various support systems to encourage adherence to these protocols led to an 81-percent decline in serious narcotic oversedations.

Practice enhancement assistants improve patient care through practice audits and feedback, staff training, sharing of innovative ideas, and support in the development of systems and infrastructure.

The Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program (CUSP) improves patient safety awareness and quality of care by empowering staff to take charge, create partnerships between units, improve organizational culture, and obtain resources for unit efforts.

A county health department implemented disease management programs for uninsured and underinsured, low-income diabetes, asthma, and heart failure patients, leading to improved outcomes.

Researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School transformed the way services are delivered at their family practice clinics using an electronic clinical reminder and tracking system designed to support evidence-based quality improvement efforts.

MinuteClinic operates walk-in, low-cost primary care clinics located within retail stores.

Magee-Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center implemented the Patient and Family Centered Care Methodology and Practice, a low-technology, systems-based approach to inpatient care that focuses on providing care from the patient's and family's perspective; the program is associated with high rates of patient satisfaction, functional status, and adherence to evidence-based care protocols, along with low infection rates and length of stay.

The Good Samaritan Society, a nursing home in Tyndall, SD, created a messaging system that enables residents to easily correspond with friends and family by e-mail without using a computer, which has enhanced residents' perceived quality of life.

Aurora Health Care spearheaded a community-wide medication reconciliation initiative, involving health care consumers, providers, pharmacists, and community stakeholders, to improve the accuracy of elderly patients' medication lists.