December 13, 2016

Achieving Competency Today: Issues in Health Care Quality, Cost, Systems, and Safety (ACT), one of Christiana Care’s leading graduate-level improvement science courses, combining experiential learning and outcomes analysis, held its fall graduation on Nov. 30 at the John H. Ammon Medical Education Center with presentations by four teams of interprofessional learners.

“The knowledge, skills and tools that you have been introduced to in this course will be critical in our rapidly changing health care environment, whether you are a nurse, physician assistant, resident physician or fellow, medical student, pharmacist, or allied health professional,” said ACT Program Director Carol Kerrigan Moore, MS, APRN, a safety/quality education specialist at the Institute for Learning, Leadership & Development (iLEAD).

ACT was launched in 2004 and has played a role in Christiana Care being named a Top 100 Hospital by Truven Analytics, which rates exceptional health care value through an 11-measure scorecard, said Mike Eppehimer, MHSA, FACHE, senior vice president of service line operations. In addition, Truven has recognized Christiana Care with an Everest Award, placing the health system in a select group of Top 100 Hospitals that have achieved the fastest long-term improvement over five years.

On behalf of senior management, Eppehimer thanked the learners for their commitment. “We are an organization that has great outcomes. and we have been recognized for rapid improvement year after year as we keep getting better,” he said. “I think the learning you experience in this program is a big part of why we are recognized for our improvement.”

Team 2: By Nov. 21, 2016, to increase by 20 percent the number of patients on Christiana Care Unit 4D who receive peri-procedural deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis. Tammy Layer, BSN, RN, OCN, Kelsey McIntyre, Pharm.D.; Marcus Davis, M.D.; Elizabeth Bond, M.D.; Dina Hussam, M.D.; and Kathryn Vosbury, PA-C.

 

Team 3: To increase the completion of the goals of care from within 24 hours of admission for patients seen by teaching teams in Internal Medicine and Family Medicine at Christiana and Wilmington hospitals. Specific goal – to increase completions by 25 percent within two weeks. Vivek Kataria, Pharm.D.; Raema Mir, M.D.; Fahmida Khan, D.O.; Sun Kim, RNII; Apryle Kuznicki, D.O.; and Fazal Ali, D.O..

 

TEAM 4: To engage a population of under-served homeless adults, age 55 years and older, who use a neighborhood community senior center (St. Patrick’s Center in Wilmington), where at least 30 percent will be better able to manage their hypertension, diabetes or mental health by June 2017. This ACT project will continue as part of the winter 2017 ACT course. Loren Nunley, M.D., MBA; Padmini Manrai, MS4; Roman Steiner, Pharm.D.; Christine Dang, MS3; and Cindy Wen-Ping Siu, M.D. Absent from photo: Lisa Gastan, RN.

Moore thanked ACT Team faculty and facilitators for guiding the learners. The facilitators included: Theresa Fields, MSM; Loretta Consiglio-Ward, MSN, RN; Christine Sowinski, MSM; Joseph McDaniel, RN, MBA, LSSBB; and Leslie Konizer, MS.

“We also are indebted to the many stakeholders who engage with the ACT teams and contribute so much support, providing valuable learning and feedback,” said Moore.

At the end of the presentations, Neil Jasani, M.D., MBA, FACEP, chief learning officer and vice president of Medical Affairs of Christiana Care, reflected on the overall success of ACT.

“From the beginning of the program, we’ve had over 500 graduates, 70-plus projects that went into systemwide adoption, and we have won numerous awards nationally,” Dr. Jasani said. “To me, ACT is the best interprofessional development program at this institution.”

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