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In This Issue:
Michael Gustafson and Maureen Bisognano before the February Quality Rounds.
Last week, Maureen Bisognano, president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), challenged BWH staff to rethink process improvement, eliminate waste, focus on patient safety and begin looking at health care differently.
“As we think about health care reform, the one ingredient I believe we’re under-investing in at the moment is the skill and approach to innovation,” said Bisognano, who presented on innovation during a special Quality Rounds.
BWHers packed the Bornstein Amphitheater, and many more tuned in via webcast from Faulkner Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and throughout BWH’s distributed campus to hear Bisognano’s empowering and energizing message about innovation at an evolving time in health care.
“The turnout was great, and it was promising that an increasing number of BWH staff and care providers are not only interested in learning more about the changes we will need to make in the coming years, but also desire to be part of that change,” said Michael Gustafson, MD, MBA, senior vice president for Clinical Excellence.
Gustafson noted that innovation is a particularly relevant and timely topic for BWH.
“The amount of change required of us calls for more than just traditional incremental improvement,” he said, noting that the timing of the presentation coincides with the BW/F strategic planning process currently underway. “We need fundamental redesign of many of our core care processes and models of delivery, and many of the ideas and examples cited during this presentation are inspirational success stories of what is possible when we think differently about our work.”
Bisognano encouraged people to think differently about the total burden of illness and consider the bigger picture of health care and patients’ needs, both inside and outside the hospital. “We can’t always lessen patients’ burden of illness, but we can lessen the total burden of treatment,” she said. “We can minimize the disruption.”
She also spoke about patient safety and several hospitals that IHI is working with to raise the profile of patient safety and truly change the culture. She pointed to BWH’s new Safety Matters publication and related communications as a way to identify and prevent serious safety issues. “I would focus on surfacing safety errors and eradicating them,” Bisognano said.
If you missed Bisognano’s presentation, you can view it on BWHPikeNotes.org.