The Department of Internal Medicine is pleased to announce the results of its inaugural Quality & Safety Process Improvement grants cycle. As announced in May 2021, this opportunity was open to all department faculty and afforded great flexibility with respect to target areas for improvement, including patient experience, communication with patients and families, patient outcomes, medication safety, safe hand-offs and transitions of care, diagnostic error, treatment error, patient access/flow, equitability of care delivery, social determinants of health, employee safety, and provider experience.
Of the 20 outstanding submissions, the following eight were selected for support:
- “Febrile Neutropenia Management in the Extended Care Clinic (ECC): Determination of Suitability for Outpatient Therapy” (Project Leads: Maricar Malinis, MD; Jeff Topal MD; Scott Huntington, MD; and Sarah Mougalian; MD; Infectious Diseases / Hematology / Medical Oncology)
- “Promoting Compassionate Care at the End of Life: Implementation of a 3 Wishes Project in the Medical ICU” (Project Lead: Shyoko Honiden, MD, PCCSM)
- “Standardization and Improvement of Rheumatology Biologic Infusion Orders.” (Project Lead: Vai Chowdhary, MD, Rheumatology)
- “Optimization of laboratory monitoring of home self-administered therapy with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents.” (Project Lead: Ravi Kodali, MD, Nephrology)
- “Implementation of Video Media for Educational Quality Improvement in Primary Care” (Project Leads: Janelle Duah, MD; Yetunde Asiedu, MD, General Internal Medicine)
- “Deprescription of aspirin prescribed for primary prophylaxis in hospitalized patients presenting with gastrointestinal bleeding” (Project Lead: Darrick Li, MD, Digestive Diseases)
- “Mitigating Delirium Upstream – ED Delirium (ED-DEL) prevention” (Project Lead: James Lai, MD, Geriatrics)
- “VitalTalk Training to Improve Serious Illness Communication Skills on Smilow Inpatient Services” (Project Lead: Jensa Morris, MD, General Internal Medicine)
“These are projects that advance our agenda of quality improvement and our commitment to fostering a culture of safety in our organization. We look forward to their roll out and completion during the upcoming year,” said Aldo Peixoto, MD, vice chair for Quality & Safety.
“I would like to personally congratulate all this year’s winners and encourage those who were not selected to submit their ideas again in the fall, when the next funding cycle will occur,” he continued.
Additionally, Peixoto thanked the volunteers who participated in the selection committee, Adam Ackerman, MD; Lydia Aoun-Barakat, MD; Lloyd Friedman, MD; Michelle Hughes, MD; Naseema Merchant, MD; and Lisa Suter, MD.
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