At the University of Michigan Health System, quality and safety are not programs. They are a way of life.
Here are just a few stories about how we have discovered - and addressed - quality and safety issues in our own health system.
We're proud to be a statewide and national leader in health care quality and safety.
Why employees should be excited about Service Excellence at UMHS
"No matter what role you play in this very large and complex organization, service excellence applies to you," says Tony Denton, executive director of University Hospital and chief operating officer, U-M Hospitals and Health Centers.
Denton believes every employee at UMHS should watch "Creating the Ideal Patient Care Experience at the University of Michigan Health System." The award-winning video emphasizes the importance of providing high levels of service and compassion, anticipating needs and solving problems with an exceptional commitment to teamwork.
Slowing the Revolving Door
New report shows UMHHC is one of few hospitals showing readmission rate improvement
Millions of Medicare patients over 65 are discharged from U.S. hospitals every year, but what happens after that? Insurers, especially Medicare, are interested in making sure that recently discharged patients don't end up in the hospital again too soon after going home.
Now, a new report from the Dartmouth Atlas Report on Post-acute Care for Medicare Beneficiaries shows that U-M is doing a great job on this measure of health care quality - and that U-M Hospitals and Health Centers is one of just a few academic institutions in the nation whose readmission rates for recent medical inpatients went down in the period studied. Read full story >>
U-M C.S. Mott Children's Hospital part of national project to reduce hospital-acquired infections
Mott among hospitals that saved 365 lives, prevented about 3,000 central line infections and avoided more than $100 million in wasteful healthcare expenditures.
The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital is among 80 hospitals taking part in a national effort to eradicate catheter-associated blood stream infections among hospitalized pediatric patients.
The effort by member hospitals of the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI), has so far led to 365 saved lives, the prevention of 3,000 central line infections and more than $100 million saved. Read full story >>
U-M Hospitals win award for being among nation's safest
UMHHC among 65 institutions named Leapfrog Top Hospital
The University of Michigan hospitals are among the safest and most effective hospitals in the country, according to a national ranking from the Leapfrog Group, a respected independent healthcare quality rating organization.
The U-M Hospitals and Health Centers is among 65 institutions named 2010 Leapfrog Top Hospitals, based on a rating system that provides a detailed assessment of a hospital's safety and quality. The top hospitals list includes university and other teaching hospitals, children's hospitals and community hospitals in rural, suburban and urban settings. U-M is one of four Michigan hospitals on the list. Read full story >>
Building the Ideal Patient Care Experience
Team worked from Institute of Medicine's six aims for improvement
Wouldn't it be great if every time you go to the doctor's office or hospital, everything goes right? Appointments are scheduled flawlessly, you aren't kept waiting, you get the information you need to make decisions about your care, and your choices and preferences are respected. The University of Michigan Health System is reinventing itself to deliver this ideal - what we call the Ideal Patient Care Experience (IPCE) - to all of our patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Read full story >>
Medical Admissions Stream Team
Improving the Patient Journey
Getting "the right patient in the right bed at the right time" may seem like a given. But in the Health System, where 80 percent of unscheduled admissions arrive through the Emergency Department, it's not as easy as it sounds.
A Medical Admissions Stream Team is working to ensure patients have a smooth journey through the Health System. The Michigan Quality System is taking a systematic approach to major patient journeys - starting with adult medical admissions - by bringing together teams to address issues that arise as patients move through our complex health system.
Reducing Radiation Exposure
Minimizing radiation exposure while maintaining diagnostic quality
Recent accomplishments in the Department of Radiology demonstrate the Health System's long-standing commitment to minimizing radiation exposure while maintaining diagnostic quality.
In a Blue Cross Blue Shield quality improvement study of 40 hospitals and imaging practices, called the Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging Consortium, our Cardiac Computed Tomography team reduced our average CT radiation exposure by 43 percent. The team was led by Smita Patel, MBBS, MRCP, FRCR, director of Cardiac CT and assistant professor, Department of Radiology, and Karen Barber, supervisor of the Radiology 3D lab.
Zap the VAP
5D Surgical Intensive Care Unit thinks lean and decreases infections
Staff on the 5D Surgical Intensive Care Unit are working hard to stamp out hospital-acquired infections, and the results are fabulous for patients and staff alike.
"We've changed what we do to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia," says Lena Napolitano, M.D., division chief of Acute Care Surgery and the director of Surgical Critical Care. 5D SICU is home to the General Surgery, Trauma, Endocrine, Oncology and Liver Transplant services. SICU's patients often have multiple serious conditions, which open the door to lung infections when they are on a ventilator.