Category: Patient Safety and Quality

Registration Open for Safe Table on Just Culture

Member News, Patient Safety and Quality

The MHA Keystone Center Patient Safety Organization (PSO) is hosting a Just Culture Safe Table from 12:00 to 4 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 19 at the MHA headquarters in Okemos, MI. The peer-led discussion about Just Culture best practices will be facilitated by Trinity Health.

At the end of the discussion, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the tenets of a Just Culture.
  • Articulate the rationale for a replicable system of workplace justice across all values.
  • Appreciate the change management process that yields a Just Culture.
  • Learn about processes and desirable outcomes from peers and individuals who lead and benefit from a Just Culture.

Chief quality officers, chief safety officers, chief nursing officers, vice presidents of quality, safety, and risk, vice presidents of clinical transformation, nursing leaders, directors of quality improvement and safety improvement, senior administrative and clinical leaders, board members, frontline managers and human resource professionals are encouraged to register.

Registration for the safe table is free of charge for MHA Keystone Center PSO members and includes lunch beforehand at 11:30 a.m.

Nursing and risk management credits are being pursued.

Members with questions may contact the MHA Keystone Center.

About MHA Keystone Center Safe Tables

Safe tables allow hospitals to share ideas with peers, engage in meaningful discussions and obtain advice to make improvements to reduce or eliminate harm. These events are unique in that they offer a legally protected, confidential environment for discussion around sensitive topics.

Introducing New Infection Prevention Education

Member News, Patient Safety and Quality, MHA Rounds

The MHA Keystone Center, in partnership with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), created a series of online learning modules for infection control and prevention education. The modules cater to the needs of Michigan hospitals and are available at no cost.

Niki McGuire, the manager of the multidrug resistant organisms containment unit at MDHHS, and Josh Suire, a senior manager of safety and quality at the MHA Keystone Center, share the purpose of the series and how healthcare providers in Michigan can use the resource to improve infection prevention practices.

What is Project Firstline?

McGuire: Project Firstline is a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) training collaborative that aims to provide more accessible infection control education for frontline healthcare workers. MDHHS partnered with the MHA Keystone Center to develop CDC-based education materials for Michigan’s healthcare workers. With a shared goal of creating accessible and applicable content, the MDHHS and MHA Keystone Center worked together to create six online courses. Three courses in the series are geared toward infection preventionists, with an emphasis on quality improvement best practices. The series also offers courses geared toward frontline workers that serve as a great training resource for staff to interact with at their convenience.

Suire: The Project Firstline modules were created with healthcare workers’ needs and preferences at the forefront. As a nurse with bedside experience myself, I understand healthcare providers are stretched thin. We intentionally built all the courses in an online system that allows participants to check in and out of the classroom around their schedule. Each module is also designed to take less than 45 minutes to complete.

What is the commitment associated with participating?

Suire: These resources were created to meet healthcare workers where they are. The courses are available to Michigan healthcare workers at no cost. We encourage participants to engage with the courses at their convenience. While the courses were created to be completed as a series, healthcare workers are welcome to take courses specific to their training needs.

What are the main takeaways a participant will obtain after taking the courses?

McGuire: MDHHS offers the assessment portion of the CDC’s Infection Control Assessment and Response (ICAR) tool to all acute- and long-term care facilities in Michigan.  We are non-regulatory. The first two modules in this series are great for infection preventionists looking to begin the ICAR process – providing background information about the entire process and how to engage with MDHHS Healthcare Associated Infections team. The clinical modules will provide frontline workers with the competencies needed to engage in on-the-spot critical thinking about infection prevention – sharing best practices for hand-hygiene, transmission-based precautions and more.

Suire: The MHA Keystone Center aims to deliver frontline healthcare workers fun, interactive learning modules with basic infection prevention practices that should be implemented in day-to-day patient/resident care activities. It is our hope facilities across the state use these modules as part of their infection control and prevention program. We encourage all Michigan acute- and long-term care facilities to take advantage of this free resource to reduce the preventable spread of infections.

To learn more about the Project Firstline series, visit the module series webpage or contact the MHA Keystone Center.

Registration Open for Workplace Violence Prevention Safe Table

Member News, Patient Safety and Quality

MHA EventsThe MHA Keystone Center Patient Safety Organization (PSO) is hosting a Workplace Violence Prevention Safe Table from 12:30 to 4 p.m. Thursday, July 25 at the MHA Headquarters. Lunch will be provided before the safe table at 11:30 a.m.

The MHA Keystone Center PSO has partnered with Tom Peterson, MD, FAAP, chief safety officer, Trinity Health and his team to offer this free event.

Participants will learn how to:

  1. Use workplace violence metrics to identify gaps, opportunities and progress.
  2. Successfully design and implement a Zero-Tolerance Code of Conduct and a Code of Conduct program.
  3. Implement critical preventive tools such as electronic risk scoring and safety planning, early preventive response teams, and a zero-tolerance policy and process.
  4. Share other proven workplace violence prevention strategies from their organization and collaborate with other hospitals and health systems.

The target audience for this event is chief quality officers, chief safety officers, chief nursing officers, vice presidents of quality, safety, and risk, vice presidents of clinical transformation, nursing leaders, directors of quality improvement, directors of patient safety and performance improvement directors.

Nursing and risk management credits are being pursued.

Members with questions may contact the MHA Keystone Center PSO.

Maternal Levels of Care Toolkit Created to Assist with TJC Verification

Member News, Patient Safety and Quality

A toolkit of resources is now available to assist hospitals with the application process for The Joint Commission’s (TJC’s) Maternal Levels of Care (MLC) Verification.

The toolkit contains resources from TJC and the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative, as well as a verification process checklist and sample presentation slides created by the MHA. These should provide guidance and a step-by-step path throughout the verification process.

The MHA is also hosting office hours virtually from 2 to 3 p.m. every Thursday through June 27. Registration is required and members are asked to register by the end of business the Wednesday prior to a week’s session. Members with questions about the MLC Verification application process are encouraged to attend the sessions.

The deadline to complete the application to be eligible for the state funding is Aug. 1. Hospitals must complete this application and be a Michigan Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (MI AIM) participant to receive funds.

The funding comes from an appropriation of $10 million in the fiscal year 2024 state budget to the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services to support maternal health quality improvement efforts. Michigan birthing hospitals have an opportunity to receive funding from $9 million in available general fund dollars to invest in maternal health quality improvement efforts. The remainder of the funds will aid hospitals in obtaining MLC Verification through TJC.

Additional information about funding requirements is available on the MHA MLC webpage.

Members with questions may contact the MHA Keystone Center.