A users group approach to quality improvement across an integrated healthcare delivery system.
Aurora Healthcare, an integrated healthcare delivery system, wanted to use interhospital collaboration to improve quality. An opportunity for improvement at five Aurora hospitals was identified: Only 71% of patients received timely preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis. A Users Group approach was proposed to foster collaboration among the hospitals in a quality improvement (QI) effort. Although these hospitals differed in size, volume of cases, medical staffs, and antibiotic-delivery processes, they had common objectives and, many times, common barriers to the timely delivery of antibiotics. A Users Group approach to this QI initiative resulted in an 18% improvement in the number of patients who received timely administration of preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis (p < 0.001). This article describes the Users Group approach to QI at Aurora Healthcare in southeastern Wisconsin.
Kroll
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Aurora Healthcare, Milwaukee, USA.
Brummitt
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Berry
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D019072:Antibiotic Prophylaxis; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D006801:Humans; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014922:Wisconsin