PASTE plus teams at core of award-winning program: safety initiative identifies four key subprocesses

HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement, Nov, 2004

Measurement also critical

All reports now come in through the voluntary reporting system and are put within two large categories: actual adverse events (those that touch patients) and potential adverse drug events.

"This includes anything in the chain of activity like illegible writing, mislabeled but caught, and so on; we still want to know that," says Lloyd. "We drill into it--why it occurred, and how we can prevent it from ever happen again. Our goal is to push the error farther away from the patient; it's a very beneficial learning."

But his staff's biggest learning, he adds, is: "The better your measurements, the more validation you get for your work. "But it is also very hard to do and tends to evolve over time."

Over time, then, the staff learned how to measure results and relate those results back to expenses, Lloyd explains. "You have to be very precise; our accounting personnel were quite helpful in designing the measurements so they were realistic."

"We can now empirically measure how we make a difference, which is so much better than saying, 'I feel we are making a difference,'" he points out.

Still, LLoyd says, dollars are nothing more or less than a positive side benefit of improving quality. "Your focus should always be on providing better, safer care for patients and achieving optimal outcomes at an earlier date," he asserts.

TQM, Lloyd concedes, is hard work, "but if you take a structured approach to it, it does work, and you can get the gains you're looking for," he concludes.

Need More Information?

For more information, contact:

* David B. Lloyd, RN, MBA, Service Leader, Clinical Services, Heartland Health, 5325 Faraon St., St. Joseph, MO 64506. Phone: (816) 271-6832. E-mail: David.Lloyd@heart land-health.com.