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To improve breastfeeding rates, hospitals throughout New York State are implementing the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, which include evidence-based practices such as skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby immediately after birth and a baby staying in a mother’s hospital room instead of a nursery (referred to as rooming-in). But to ensure that these best…
As a special healthcare need, epilepsy can be difficult to treat because it doesn’t affect every patient the same way. Seizures, a common epileptic symptom, vary in frequency, severity and type between people, which means that healthcare providers need to understand that range of outcomes to create treatment plans. And because epilepsy affects a small…
Early childhood is a crucial period for child development. From birth through age 3, kids can reach significant milestones in language, cognition, approaches toward learning, physical well-being and motor skills, and social and emotional development that can set them up to reach their full potential, specifically optimal developmental health. That’s why there are so many…
While changes are at the heart of quality improvement (QI), using data at every phase of a QI initiative helps inform the progress and outcomes of the work. The information is both a catalyst for change and a result of testing new strategies, making it a crucial element that can’t be ignored at any point….
Better breastfeeding support and education are priorities for many states around the country. Hospitals and care providers are adapting their practices, but they often require help in achieving meaningful and sustainable change. This is in part because there are long established protocols that are difficult to amend or replace. However, collaborative learning and quality improvement…
While there’s no single part of Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles that’s more important than the others, planning is the foundation of the work. After all, the P comes first. But that building block can be more of a stumbling block for many stakeholders in quality improvement (QI) efforts. In some cases, teams might suffer from analysis…
As part of the Improving Children’s Vision: Systems, Stakeholders & Support (ICV) collaborative, the state team in Arizona found that many children were not only failing their vision screenings, but many were also lost to follow-up and not receiving necessary interventions early enough. “This is a huge issue for us: kids failing a screening and…
This is one of a series of posts based on the “Engaging Senior Leadership in Your Quality Improvement (QI) Work” webinar. When requesting information, a familiar refrain from cops is, “just the facts ma’am.” Similarly, when a leader or boss is asked to support a new initiative, a common refrain is, “show me the evidence…
If you have sickle cell disease (SCD) and live in Indianapolis, you’ll likely face little problem accessing care and support from trained specialists. But travel outside Indiana’s capital city and many communities lack supports to help those with SCD manage their disease. “Lake County has the greatest need for pediatric SCD care, but despite its…
I almost died last week. (OK, maybe that is a little dramatic.) I was at work, responding to emails when I saw the notification light on my cell phone. Like a Pavlovian dog, I quickly swiped my password, tapped the alert and the email with the picture popped open. As much as I hate the…