Annual Clinic Quality Improvement
Projects – 2012
Lynn Mitchell
Dale Bratzler

The Imperative for Quality Projects in our
Clinics
• Increasing demand to measure and publicly report information about quality in healthcare
– including ambulatory care
• Accrediting bodies such as the Accreditation
Association for Ambulatory Health Care
(AAAHC) require evidence of ongoing clinical quality improvement activities

Our goal for clinic quality improvement projects this year….
• To introduce a framework for doing performance improvement work
– Focus was on methods and tools that can be used on new projects
– Provide formal training and support as you completed the project
– Defined deliverables

Quality Improvement Framework
• Lean Six Sigma is currently used for many quality initiatives at OU
Medical Center
• Focus is on eliminating
“waste” and reducing variation

Group-wide
Performance
Improvement

Quality Improvement – Results!
• 52 clinics completed projects this year
– Focus was on clinical topics
– Many demonstrated a team approach to improvement
– Clinics completed routine deliverables and reporting
Congratulations to all of you who completed the clinical quality improvement projects this year!

External Judges
• LaWanna Halstead, RN, MPH
– Vice President/Quality and Clinical Initiatives at the Oklahoma Hospital Association
• Jack Sommers, MD, MBA
– Senior Vice-President and Chief Medical Officer,
CommunityCare
• Paula Root, MD, MPH, MBA
– Medical Director, BlueCross BlueShield of
Oklahoma

Oklahoma Children’s Heart Center
Third Place Award
Improving Patient Compliance and Safety with
Oral Warfarin
Project Team: Samantha Adams, Patricia Lozano, Tonita Hawkins, Terry Linville,
Emily Auld, Teresa Whited.
Project Sponsor: Ed Overholt

Children’s Pulmonary and Cystic
Fibrosis Clinic of Oklahoma
Second Place Award
Nutritional Intervention to Improve Outcomes in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis
Project Team: James Royall, Danielle Butler, Debbie Berry, Stacey Sharp,
Megan Cross, Michalle Smith, Jessica Shell, Shella Southern.
Project Sponsor: Nighat Mehdi

Jimmy Everest Center
First Place Award
Fever and Antibiotic Delivery Time in Immune-
Compromised Patients Project
Project Team: Hanumantha Pokala, Shirley Harris, Theresa Steckel, Carol Peek,
Gwen Dow, Tracy Hagemann, and JEC Chemotherapy Staff Nurses.
Project Sponsor: William H. Meyer

Honorable Mentions
• Infectious Diseases Institute - Influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations for HIV patients
– First runner-up
• Sooner Pediatrics – Adolescent Immunization
– Second runner-up
• Stephenson Cancer Center Gynecologic
Oncology - VTE prophylaxis for moderate to high risk surgical patients.
– Third runner-up

Going Forward
In the near future we will roll out plans for the
2013 quality improvement projects
– Emphasis group-wide improvement on clinical topics that are high-volume, high-impact, and highly-likely to be publicly reported
• Continue providing training to clinic staff and introduce new tools for improvement
– Integrate medical students into the clinic quality improvement projects

lynn-mitchell@ouhsc.edu
dale-bratzler@ouhsc.edu