{"id":2445,"date":"2019-05-31T14:06:33","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T18:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/kidsmatter\/?p=2445"},"modified":"2019-05-31T14:06:33","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T18:06:33","slug":"quality-corner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/kidsmatter\/quality-corner\/","title":{"rendered":"Quality Corner"},"content":{"rendered":"

UVA Children\u2019s Hospital Quality Update
\n<\/strong>by Dr. Jonathan Swanson<\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Data. When it comes to quality improvement, data mean everything. Without it, the clinical team would have an extraordinarily difficult time deciding on what to focus on or what opportunities for improvement were available. I\u2019m not a chef, but I consider QI work without data much like someone trying to bake a cake without knowing how much flour, sugar, milk and eggs to use \u2013 extremely difficult (or next to impossible)!\u00a0 It\u2019s also the reason why anyone who is asks about starting a QI project, I urge them to start collecting some data as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Knowing that there are only 24 hours in a day and everyone has multiple responsibilities, the Women\u2019s & Children\u2019s Service Line has a couple of people that can help with generating data. Stephen Simmers is the service line\u2019s data analyst and Michael Heinze is a data analyst assigned to the service line who works for the Quality & Performance Improvement Department. Both of these data gurus can help generate some initial data when trying to start a project. Please reach out to see how they might be able to help if you are stuck!<\/p>\n

Another option for automated data generation is Epic itself. With a little-known tool called Slicer Dicer, you can explore your own data or that of a specific population. Examples include comparing this year\u2019s number of patients who received the flu shot to last year\u2019s numbers or seeing what percentage of your patients have a diagnosis of asthma and went to the Emergency Department. Slicer Dicer takes a little getting used-to, so play around with it to see how it may help you in your QI project. To get to Slicer Dicer, type \u201cSlicer\u201d in the Epic Search Bar (top right corner of the Epic platform).<\/p>\n

Finally, the Children\u2019s Hospital is investing in more registries to help drive improvement. The NICU has been a part of Vermont Oxford Network (VON) for over a decade and the Heart Program is a member of the Society for Thoracic Surgeons Public Reporting database. Both of these groups have allowed the programs to benchmark themselves to similar institutions and look for areas for improvement. For example, in 2016, the NICU noticed an uptick in severe intraventricular hemorrhage and found that the rate of nearly 16% was well-above the national average. A multidisciplinary team worked together to create an IVH-reduction bundle and dropped the rate to 8%, below the national average. Similarly, the Congenital Heart Disease Program have used STS data to drive improvements in survival by evaluating care processes from pre-operation to discharge. Observed operative mortality was 2.1% in 2018, well below the expected mortality rate of 3.6%.<\/p>\n

Other registries that the Children\u2019s Hospital is a part of include:<\/p>\n