Quality Improvement Hub

Removing Unnecessary Contact Isolation Precautions

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium that can be transmitted via skin-to-skin contact and may cause severe infections.  BMC has a policy to place MRSA-colonized patients on contact isolation precautions.  An estimated 15-30% of colonized patients clear within 90 days giving us the opportunity to reduce the need for... More

Resident Corner Fall ’19

STARS Candy Rounds by Swetha Ramachandran, MD and the QIPS Residents As part of the internal medicine residency program at BMC, there is a Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (QIPS) pathway for residents who are interested in identifying patient safety issues and improving outcomes using quality improvement methodologies. This year the... More

BMC Joins the Age-Friendly Health System Community

To better support older adults and improve their health outcomes, health systems must put in place comprehensive, coordinated evidenced-based models that better deliver care to the growing aging population. In September 2018, BMC joined John A. Hartford Foundation-Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) Age-Friendly Health System Community in spreading age-friendly care with... More

Success of New Hyperglycemia Crisis Management Guideline

In AY2018 the Endocrine Subcommittee of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee rolled out changes to the longstanding BMC Hyperglycemic Crisis Management Guideline, which had been in use for more than a decade.  A QI project done the prior year had shown higher rates of hypoglycemia (blood glucose (BG) <70) in... More

BMC Quality Goals for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY 20)

Reducing Preventable Harm Index (PHI) PHI is comprised of the 4 major Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) with a goal of 1.0 (YTD 0.84): Catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLASBI) Hospital acquired Clostridium difficile infections (CDIFF) and Methacillin-Resistant Staph aureus bacteremia The PHI also contains several perioperative/periprocedural... More

BMC Physician Quality Leaders

In July 2016, BMC reorganized the Physician Quality Leaders, funding fewer quality leaders but giving each more responsibility and time to actually get things done.  They report to Dr. James Moses, BMC Chief Quality Officer, and address patient safety events as well as promote hospital quality initiatives.  They are also... More

Reducing Readmissions for Patients with Heart Failure and COPD

While BMC’s all cause 30-day readmission rate was 10.96% in FY17, certain populations had much higher readmission rates particularly heart failure (HF) (23.73% FY17) and COPD (24.81% FY17). With almost 1 in 5 HF and COPD patients readmitted, reducing readmissions for these patients has become an important hospital and quality priority. Multidisciplinary... More

Resident QI Corner – Winter ’19

Managing discharge from Inpatient Heme/Onc Service The inpatient Hematology/Oncology team at BMC is a busy service full of patients with complex medical problems and diverse pathologies requiring intricate care plans. Thus, discharges from the Heme/Onc inpatient service are complicated and are often derailed by unforeseen variables. We sought to increase the safety and timeliness of discharges by implementing... More

Reducing Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI)

The CAUTI rate on the wards and ICUs for FY18 YTD was 25 infections with a goal of ZERO (FY17, there were 25 infections). Please only place indwelling urinary catheters for: Hourly urine output monitoring (only in the ICUs) Management of urinary retention, and Assistance in healing a stage 3 or... More

Reducing Clostridium Difficile Infections

One major component of preventable harm is hospital-acquired C. difficile infections.  Due to the ongoing work of Deb Gregson and the QI team, we have made considerable progress.  BMC is above goal with FY18 Standardized Infection Ratio (SIR) of 0.97 (goal ≤0.7). Key drivers for reducing C diff. are decreasing unnecessary... More