Hospital Quality Leaders Complete National Fellows Program
More than 30 Kansas hospital leaders were recently recognized for their completion of a national fellowship program in quality and patient safety, announced the Kansas Healthcare Collaborative.
Two fellowship programs were offered in 34 states this year by the Health Research and Educational Trust for hospitals participating in its Hospital Improvement Innovation Network, a national patient safety initiative administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and its Partnership for Patients program.
The HRET HIIN is the largest HIIN with more than 1,600 participating hospitals and 34 state hospital associations and other partners. Collectively, the HRET HIIN is pursuing the ambitious goals of reducing all-cause inpatient harm by 20 percent and readmissions by 12 percent by September 2018.
The HRET Quality Improvement Fellowship program, now completing its fifth year and entering its sixth, is designed to build knowledge and skills for hospital administrators, mid-level managers, clinicians and front-line staff in leading quality and patient safety improvement efforts within their organizations and communities.
In 2017, HRET also offered a new fellowship which provided training for staff and former patient or family advisors seeking to strengthen their hospitals’ Patient and Family Engagement programs.
“The Kansas health care professionals who made the commitment to complete the 2017 fellowship programs are making a real impact within their hospitals and their communities,” said Kendra Tinsley, KHC executive director. “We commend them for their skills in leading and championing quality health care.”
Between the two programs this year, HRET awarded certificates of completion to 286 fellows nationally, including 31 fellows in Kansas.
HRET and KHC presented certificates of completion to seven Quality Improvement Fellows: Melissa Jones, Greenwood County Hospital; Carolyn Mikesell, Memorial Hospital, Abilene; Gregg Holt, Mercy Hospital Columbus; Juli Heitman, Newman Regional Health; Katie Rucker, Olathe Medical Center; Dorothy Rice, Ransom Memorial Hospital, Ottawa; and Tiffany Trapp, Rush County Memorial Hospital. In addition to participating in virtual learning sessions with national faculty and completing online learning modules, each Quality Improvement Fellow completed a project improving patient safety, such as the reduction in unnecessary readmissions, preventing falls, hand hygiene or antibiotic stewardship.
Certificates of completion for the Patient and Family Engagement Fellowship were presented to 26 individuals in Kansas, including Abby Lickteig, Coffeyville Regional Medical Center; Sandra Dobrinski, Comanche County Hospital; Abby Nelson, Jimi Amanda Burke, Mary Simon, and Melissa Jones, Greenwood County Hospital; Chana Marshall, Tyler Whipkey, and Mike Wright, Mercy Hospital Fort Scott; Joann Brandt, Verla Friesen and Randy Yost, Mercy Hospital, Inc.; and Jamey Keen, Norton County Hospital.
Notably, Ransom Memorial Hospital had 13 fellows complete the PFE fellowship curriculum: Amy Evans, Beth Keim, Rita Demeter, Brenda Pfizenmaier, Dave Bowers, Dorothy Rice, Jody Lancaster, Kim Evans, Linda Jensen, Nancy Ferguson, Pam Collins, Peggy Frsia, and Stacy Steiner.
Melissa Jones, Greenwood County Hospital, Eureka, and Dorothy Rice, Ransom Memorial Hospital, completed both fellowships.
In recent years, Kansas hospitals have had high participation in the HRET HIIN Fellowship programs with more than 140 fellows at 60 hospitals across the state participating in at least one fellowship since 2012.
1/24/2018