|
Tue, Dec 08 2009 7:13 PM EST
|
|
Harm reduction is a marathon, not a sprint, Henry Ford Health System Chief Quality Officer James Conway said Tuesday. The Detroit-area system has been actively engaged in quality initiatives since 1989, when it began using performance improvement methods borrowed from general industry. So when Henry Ford launched a campaign to eliminate harm in 2004, top administrators expected quick results; they thought they could reduce harm across the board by 50 percent in two years.
Bad news arrived early, when system leaders learned that their hospitals’ mortality rates were higher than national averages.
“By 2004, we were pretty confident, and maybe arrogant we could take on any audacious goal,” Conway said. “We met our match with the elimination of harm campaign. It didn’t come as easily as other initiatives.”
Also, the harm reduction team couldn’t find a good existing framework for measuring harm, so it had to create its own metrics, said Henry Ford Administrator of Quality Jack Jordan.
Gradually, the program bore results—after years of uneven progress, harm per patient days dropped from 55 in January 2008 to 45 in September 2009. Key to the effort, Jordan said, was the notion that culture is an ever-changing, malleable force that the administration must work to influence positively.
“Culture is always changing in your organization,” Jordan said. “Dr. Conway can remember a time when people smoked cigarettes on the ICU rounding team. Today we would say, “How could you possibly do that?”
Haydn Bush, quality resources specialist with AHA Quality Center, is blogging from the IHI conference.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.
