Sustaining Improvement. IHI White Paper

"This white paper presents a framework that health care organizations can use to sustain improvements in the safety, effectiveness, and efficiency of patient care. The key to sustaining improvement is to focus on the daily work of frontline managers, supported by a high-performance management system that prescribes standard tasks and responsibilities for managers at all levels of the organization."

Sustaining Improvement. IHI White Paper

R Scoville, K Little, J Rakover, K Luther, K Mate 

Cambridge, Massachusetts: Institute for Healthcare Improvement

2016

Read more here (requires registration).  

Managing the supply of NHS clinical staff in England

"Ensuring there are enough clinical staff with the right skills to meet the demand for high-quality, safe healthcare is essential to the operation of the NHS. There are risks to both the quality and cost of services if the supply of clinical staff is poorly managed." 

Managing the supply of NHS clinical staff in England
Department of Health, National Audit Office
February 2016

Read more here.

Development of key performance indicators to evaluate centralized intake for patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis

"Arthritis stakeholders have proposed 28 KPIs [Key Performance Indicators] that should be used in quality improvement efforts when evaluating centralized intake for OA [osteoarthritis] and RA [rheumatoid arthritis]. The KPIs measure five of the six dimensions of quality and are relevant to patients, practitioners and health systems."

Development of key performance indicators to evaluate centralized intake for patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis
CE Barber et al.
Arthritis Research & Therapy 2015, 17:322 doi:10.1186/s13075-015-0843-7

Read more here. 

Infection prevention and control: lessons from acute care in England

"This learning report is based on the findings of a large research study that identified and consolidated published evidence about infection prevention and control initiatives...The report considers what has been learned from the infection prevention and control work carried out over the last 15 years in hospitals in England. It looks at the lessons learned and outlines future directions for effective infection prevention and control." 

Infection prevention and control: lessons from acute care in England: Towards a whole health economy approach
The Health Foundation
November 2015

Read more here.

How effective are patient safety initiatives?

"Our study shows some improvements in preventable adverse events in the areas that were addressed during the comprehensive national safety programme. There are signs that such a programme has a positive impact on patient safety."

How effective are patient safety initiatives? A retrospective patient record review study of changes to patient safety over time
R Baines, M Langelaan, M de Bruijne, P Spreeuwenberg, C Wagner
BMJ Quality and Safety 2015;24:561-571 doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2014-003702

Read more here.

The influence of context on the effectiveness of hospital quality improvement strategies

"Our findings suggest that some of the most relevant context factors are those close to the clinical microsystem in which the QI intervention is delivered. This provides cues for action for improvement practitioners who may include an assessment of such factors, and dedicated change processes, in their local plans for quality improvement."

The influence of context on the effectiveness of hospital quality improvement strategies: a review of systematic reviews
DS Kringos et al.
BMC Health Services Research 2015, 15:277  doi:10.1186/s12913-015-0906-0

Read more here.

Insights on earlier adoption of medical innovations

"The aims of this piece of work are:

• To identify the key features of systems in which drugs, devices and diagnostics are assessed from trials to patients quickly, by considering a number of global ‘front-runners’;
• To understand how these systems work in practice;
• To reflect on the challenges and opportunities to effectively translate into the UK’s health system"

Insights on earlier adoption of medical innovations: An international review of emerging and effective practice in improving access to medicines and medical technology
S Wooding, G Cochrane, J Taylor, A Kamenetzky, S Sousa, S Parks
Rand Europe
July 2015

Read more here.

Mental health crisis care review

Two reports have been published following a review of mental health crisis services. The reports consider aspects of quality, safety and effectiveness, as well as patient experience.

Mental health crisis review – experiences of black and minority ethnic communities
Jeraj, Samir, Shoham, Tara and Islam-Barrett, Farah
Race Equality Foundation
June 2015

Access the report here.

Right here, right now: Mental health crisis care review
Care Quality Commission
June 2015

Access the report here.

Leadership and leadership development in health care: The evidence base

"The summary describes key messages from the review in relation to leadership at different levels of analysis: it includes a description of the leadership task and the most effective leadership behaviours at individual, team, board and national levels."

Leadership and leadership development in health care: The evidence base
M West, K Armit, L Loewenthal, R Eckert, T West, A Lee
The King's Fund
February 2015

Read more here.

Developing a ward round checklist to improve patient safety

"This project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a ward round review checklist on one general medical ward in a district general hospital in the UK."

Developing a ward round checklist to improve patient safety

BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2015;4: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u204775.w2440

G Hale, D McNab

Read more here. 

Multi-disciplinary Team Handbook

"This handbook brings together information about multi-disciplinary / integrated teams from a wide range of sources including publications, studies and operational examples for the purpose of providing a stimulus to the system to examine the type or types of teams that need to be in place to deliver integrated healthcare."

MDT Development: Working toward an effective multidisciplinary/multiagency team
NHS England
January 2015

Read more here.

Driving Local Change for effective and efficient eye care services

"This guidance brings together the learning from the CEE project and is accompanied by a suite of support tools to assist commissioners, local government partners, Local Eye Health Networks (LEHNs) and partnerships to plan and deliver eyecare services that maximise the best possible outcomes for their local communities."

Driving Local Change for effective and efficient eye care services: Sharing our learning from the Commissioning for Effective and Efficiency (CEE) project
UK Vision Strategy
November 2014

Read more here.

Framework for responding to CQC inspections of GP practices

"From October 2014, the CQC will begin to roll out their new inspection regime to inspect and rate every GP practice in England by April 2016. Practices will be inspected across five key questions, considering the extent to which they are safe, effective, responsive, caring and well-led. They will be rated in one of four categories; outstanding; good; requires improvement; or inadequate."

Framework for responding to CQC inspections of GP practices
October 2014
Commissioning Operations, NHS England

Read more here.

Determinants of treatment plan implementation in multidisciplinary team meetings for patients with chronic diseases

"Greater multidisciplinarity is not necessarily associated with more effective decision making. Explicit goals and procedures are also crucial. Decision implementation should be routinely monitored to ensure the equitable provision of care."

Determinants of treatment plan implementation in multidisciplinary team meetings for patients with chronic diseases: a mixed-methods study
R Raine et al.
BMJ Quality and Safety 2014;23:867-876

Read more here.

Strategies to improve the efficiency and utility of multidisciplinary team meetings in urology cancer care

"This study is the first to explore which areas of urology MDT working healthcare professionals perceive to be valuable, and how MDT working might be improved in terms of effectiveness and efficiency."

Strategies to improve the efficiency and utility of multidisciplinary team meetings in urology cancer care: a survey study
BW Lamb, RT Jalil, N Sevdalis, C Vincent, JSA Green
BMC Health Services Research 2014, 14:377

Read more here.

Putting quality on the global health agenda

"Although there is no single definition of high-quality care, the Institute of Medicine describes it as having six key features: it is safe, effective, patient-centered, efficient, timely, and equitable. All these features are important, but there is recent evidence of particularly substantial deficiencies in the first three."

Putting quality on the global health agenda
KW Scott, AK Jha
New England Journal of Medicine, 2014; 371: 3-5

Read more here.

NHS 111: quality and safety report

"This report was commissioned to provide assurance on the quality (safety, effectiveness, equity and patient experience) of NHS 111 services to support effective decision-making."

NHS 111: quality and safety report
M Durkin
NHS England
July 2014

Read more here.

Wheelchair interventions, services and provision for disabled children

"There is a distinct lack of high quality effectiveness and economic evidence in this field. Social and health needs should be seen as equally important when assessing the mobility needs of disabled children."

Wheelchair interventions, services and provision for disabled children: a mixed-method systematic review and conceptual framework
N Bray, J Noyes, RT Edwards, N Harris
BMC Health Services Research 2014, 14:309

Read more here.

Funding schemes for innovative medical devices

"To manage the uncertainty surrounding the reimbursement of innovation, several European countries have set up temporary funding schemes to generate evidence about the effectiveness of devices. This article explores two different French approaches to funding innovative in-hospital devices and collecting supplementary data."

Special funding schemes for innovative medical devices in French hospitals: The pros and cons of two different approaches
N Martellia, H van den Brink
Health Policy, April 2014

Read more here.

Are interventions to reduce interruptions and errors during medication administration effective?

"There is weak evidence of the effectiveness of interventions to significantly reduce interruption rates and very limited evidence of their effectiveness to reduce medication administration errors. Policy makers should proceed with great caution in implementing such interventions until controlled trials confirm their value." 

Are interventions to reduce interruptions and errors during medication administration effective?: a systematic review
MZ Raban, JI Westbrook
BMJ Quality and Safety, 2014; 23: 414-421

Read more here.