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Research Network Meeting Focuses on QI PDF Print E-mail

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Vol XXXVIII, Apr '09
The AMDA Foundation Research Network held a special session during AMDA’s Annual Symposium to provide some updates on and insights into quality improvement (QI) research. Howard Nachamie, MD, opened the program by discussing how he used QI data generated from the Minimum Data Set (MDS) to identify trends among individual providers and units in his facility and to compare facility data to national trends.


Nachamie chose to focus on falls as a QI area. “By tracking data, looking at what elements were triggered for individual patients, putting these triggers in a graph chart, and making in-house and broader comparisons, we were able to identify areas for improvement and use QIs to make general improvements on the floor,” says Nachamie. He adds that he was able to use this information to convince other practitioners about the need for various treatments. For example, he says, “We had one patient with inadequately treated depression, weight loss, and other issues who wasn’t making progress. By sharing the graph with the psychiatrist, we were able to use the trigger information to influence care—in this case, implementation of ECT.” Nachamie adds, “That’s the most exciting use of this information for me.”

Nachamie stresses the need for accurate information to make this process work. “You need to make sure that what you’re seeing is real and that the data has been entered accurately and hasn’t falsely triggered something or put you on the wrong course of action.”

For more details about the Research Network session, watch for the Convention Reporter issue of Caring for the Ages, due out later this Spring.

 
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