Just How Transparent Are You Willing to Be?
December 20, 2009
Posted by chcablogadmin in : Quality
Among the 5,000 or so participants in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) annual meeting were about 100 people from our hospitals. We were all trying to absorb words of wisdom and best practices from the adult world.
Jim Anderson and I attended “Finding the Cost/Quality Sweet Spot,” a provocative session presented by James L. Reinertsen M.D. His theory: it is easy for a Board or staff member to say their BSI rate is 1 or 2 percent; removing the denominator yields a completely different message. He challenged hospitals to report in whole numbers such as: “Our hospital harmed 30 patients last year with blood stream infections that could have been prevented.”
Dr. Reinertsen went on to tell a story about a hospital CMO who started a meeting by simply flashing 514 up on the wall. When asked about the number, he replied that it was the number of patients they had harmed last year. Another hospital reported in storytelling fashion the name and description of harm done to each patient. He trended the report over time, telling how the number of patients harmed declined on a name by name basis.
Just how transparent are you willing to be? Please tell us your story about eliminating the denominator to bring home a stronger message of quality improvement.
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