Patient Safety and Quality Improvement in Texas

Blog by Kristin Tesmer, President, DFWHC Foundation

This month, the DFW Hospital Council (DFWHC) Foundation Board of Trustees discussed the impact our data collaboration has on quality of care and patient safety in both North and Central Texas.

Patti Taylor, our director of patient safety and quality, recently reported the information utilized by our partners over the last year has provided a better understanding of the causes of inpatient opioid adverse events, maternal and infant mortality, clostridium difficile (C. Diff), CAUTI and sepsis mortality.

These data comparisons led to identifying local systems with the “best outcomes.” Displaying great teamwork, these organizations then promptly shared their practices with our Patient Safety and Quality Committee for dissemination.

The collaborative’s best practices can be found at: http://dfwhcf.wpengine.com/quality/ within our Quality Services Best Practices library. Recent best practice publications also include:

1. Comprehensive article documenting C. Diff contamination was higher in the community than in hospital settings. The article has been accepted for publication and was generated by a funded study at UNT Health Science Center.

2. Study by Baylor Scott and White Health regarding the effectiveness of using clinical pharmacists to perform medication reconciliations. The report found this process had a positive impact on timeliness, accuracy and medication history completion. The practice improved averages of completed medication reconciliation from 13 to 34 percent. In addition, 91 percent of medication reconciliations occurred within two hours. The process also reduced medication errors and patient harm.

3. A study by Methodist Health System regarding the effectiveness of implementing a new sepsis bundle and increasing testing. Utilizing DFWHC Foundation data, Methodist Health System confirmed a decrease in sepsis mortality and inpatient length of stay after implementation.

We believe the sharing of such information saves lives, reduces patient harm, improves clinician and patient satisfaction and reduces cost. We hope your team will access these studies and we thank you for sharing your successes for the benefit of our patients.

For additional information, please contact Patti Taylor at ptaylor@dfwhcfoundation.org.