Here are a variety of resources related to quality that wound care clinicians may find valuable.
Home Health Quality Improvement National Campaign
If you are interested in home care, you’ll want to visit The Home Health Quality Improvement (HHQI) National Campaign’s website. HHQI is a grassroots project of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services designed “to unite home health stakeholders and multiple health care settings under the shared vision of reducing avoidable hospitalizations and improving medication management.”
The many available free resources on the campaign’s website include:
• webinars; for example, “Hospital Readmissions and the Role of Home Care”
• best practice innovation packages, including ones on medication management and fall prevention.
You must register to obtain some of the resources.
◊ http://www.homehealthquality.org/hh/default.aspx
Reducing Avoidable Readmissions Effectively
Reducing Avoidable Readmissions Effectively (RARE) is a campaign in Minnesota that is working with hospitals and care providers to prevent hospital readmissions within 30 days of discharge.
Even if you aren’t in Minnesota, you can access resources such as a webinars. Past webinars include “Involving Patients and Families in Reducing Avoidable Readmissions” and “Home Care and Reducing Hospital Readmissions.”
You can also download “Recommended Actions for Improved Transitions,” which covers five key areas: patient and family engagement and activation, medication management, comprehensive transition planning, care transition support, and transition communication.
◊ http://rarereadmissions.org/resources/RARE_Report_2012_06.html
TeamSTEPPS®
Effective communication is essential for any quality initiative to be successful. TeamSTEPPS is a teamwork system that improves communication through train-ing and tools. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Defense Department have teamed up to provide
resources for implementing Team STEPPS.
Tools include:
• Core TeamSTEPPS Training Curriculum Materials
• TeamSTEPPS Rapid Response Systems (RRS) Training Module
• TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Perception Questionnaire
• Pocket Guide that summarizes TeamSTEPPS principles in a portable, easy-
to-use format.
The educational materials contain information that clinicians can integrate into their practice. Video vignettes illustrate how failures in teamwork and communication can place patients in jeopardy and how successful teams can work to improve patient outcomes.
You can order free TeamSTEPPS materials, which are available online.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement is an independent, not-for-profit organization that focuses on testing new models of care, disseminating best practices, and building the will to change to improve health care.
Among the many resources on the website:
• tools such as “Self-Management Toolkit for People with Chronic Conditions and Their Families”
• useful publications
• white papers such as “Using Care
Bundles to Improve Health Care
Quality”
• case studies of successful strategies
• audio and video broadcasts
• links to other helpful websites.
Registration is free.
