Holly Montgomery, M.D., OB-GYN PGY-4 resident at KU School of Medicine-Wichita, presents her work on improving assessment and documentation of routine prenatal care.

These resources are designed to assist clinicians in implementing quality improvement in practice:

AHRQ Triggers and Trigger Tools
Health care organizations use a variety of strategies to detect safety hazards in order to prevent harm. These methods are often referred to by various names such as Targeted Injury Detection Systems and most commonly as triggers. When the trigger correctly identifies an adverse event, causative factors can be determined and interventions developed to reduce the frequency of such events. Triggers can also be used to track rates of adverse events over time. 

Ambulatory Care Quality Alliance
This document provides performance measures to be used as a "starter set" for developing measures for ambulatory care.

CMS Quality Measures
A comprehensive collection of evidence-based clinical measures

CUSP Toolkit
Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program toolkit includes training tools to make care safer by improving the foundation of how physicians, nurses, and other team members work together. Builds capacity to address safety issues by combining clinical best practices and the science of safety. 

Duke University Medical Center's QI Patient Safety - Quality Improvement Program
Open access modules provide basic QI/PS content, including chart audit, the culture of safety, the evolution of QI and safety in health care, the anatomy of an error, and mistake-proofing care. 

National Quality Forum
A national organization that reviews and endorses measures.

National Quality Measures Clearinghouse
A searchable database of all quality measures. Includes helpful tools for implementation.

QITools
Supports both the teaching and analysis of data from QI projects. Sample data sets and pre-and post-tests are available for use in teaching.

Reducing Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI)
Helps prevent CAUTI in patients and improve safety culture at the unit level by implementing concepts from the Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program (CUSP). Evidence-based, practical resources reflect real-world experiences of providers and researchers.

Surgical Quality Alliance
Collates measures of surgical care quality, share methodologies across specialties to assist in the development of meaningful tools for quality improvement and evaluate the use of registries. Sur

TeamSTEPPS
Evidence-based teamwork system aimed at optimizing patient outcomes by improving communication and teamwork skills among health care professionals. Includes a comprehensive set of ready-to-use materials and training curriculum to successfully integrate teamwork principles into any health care system. 

Patient Safety

WHO Patient Safety Curriculum Guide for Medical Schools
The curriculum guide aims to support medical schools worldwide in implementing patient safety education by providing a comprehensive curriculum for patient safety, to promote and enhance the status of patient safety worldwide and ultimately preparing students for safe practice. 

Life Balance, Burnout, Fatigue Mitigation

These resources support patient safety through management of clinician personal performance:

AMA STEPS Forward
This practice transformation series helps physicians achieve the Quadruple Aim: better patient experience, better population health, lower overall costs, and improved professional satisfaction.

In Search of Joy in Practice: A Report of 23 High-Functioning Primary Care Practices
Sinsky, et al. Ann Fam Med May/June 2013 vol. 11 no. 3 272-278. 

Physician Burnout Prevention videos

Burnout During Residency: A Literature Review

Epworth Sleepiness Scale
Commonly used in the management of narcolepsy, this sleepiness index can be useful in assessing fatigue in trainees.

The Happy MD
Tools to manage burnout, create life balance and be a more effective leader

The Values and Value of Patient-Centered Care
Ronald M. Epstein, M.D., and Richard L. Street, Jr., Ph.D. Ann Fam Med March/April 2011 vol. 9 no. 2 100-103.

Health Care Disparities

These resources will assist in addressing health care disparities. They are designed for educational activities as well as practice:

Patients with Limited English Proficiency
The TeamSTEPPS Limited English Proficiency module is designed to help you develop and deploy a customized plan to train your staff in teamwork skills and lead a medical teamwork improvement initiative in your organization. This evidence-based module will provide insight into the core concepts of teamwork as they are applied to your work with patients who have difficulty communicating in English. 

Quality Measures

QI efforts linked to national quality measures may encourage stakeholders and increase resources.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Compliance with these measures may increase reimbursement.

• Clinical Quality Measures