IHI

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is our country’s steward and engine for patient safety-a trusted federal agency that the health care organizations and the broader community turn to for practical, evidence-based resources and tools to translate important patient safety research into practice.?The care and caring that every one of us receives and provides today is safer and better because of AHRQ, yet much more work remains to eliminate preventable harm for everyone who receives and delivers care. The cuts to AHRQ and the merger with ASPE raise urgent questions and concerns about the preservation and continuation of key taxpayer-funded initiatives and resources that are vital lifelines for patient safety, such as AHRQ’s Surveys of Patient Safety Culture and CHAPS, CANDOR, PSOs, and research. Their practical tools and resources are deeply embedded and woven into the daily work of organizations across the continuum of care and are anchors for assessing, improving and sharing learnings that advance safety and the experience of patients, families, and the workforce. AHRQ’s work and value naturally align with the administration’s publicly asserted promise to champion initiatives aimed at “improving the health and well-being of Americans” and any cuts will have monumental cascading impacts to the on-the-ground work and efficiencies of health care organizations that depend on AHRQ’s offerings, especially impacting those that are already at risk of financial sustainability. The administration should not pull back on our nation’s commitment and investment to protect patients or rest on any laurels of past progress. Safety is a real-time system property that requires constancy of purpose and commitment of everyone, including our federal leaders. Instead of gutting the agency that is the lifeline for safe, reliliable, and person-centered care, we should accelerate investment in AHRQ to realize the quality care that every person deserves. #patientsafety David Newman-Toker Carol McLay https://lnkd.in/egafe73U

Growing Minds. Post natal depression affects 1 in 7 women in Portugal - also impacting newborns into their future. Last week teams from across Portugal participating in BeaMom (https://beamom.pt/), an improvement initiative to prevent post partum depression gathered in Porto to share learning and continue to strengthen the reach and impact of their work. This gathering is part of the Growing Minds portfolio of work of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation , in partnership with the national center for mental health policy (Coordena??o Nacional de Políticas de Saúde Mental) and the Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention?(CINEICC, https://cineicc.uc.pt/) of the Universidade de Coimbra, with implementation support from us at IHI . Thanks to the participating teams for your commitment to serve mothers and newborns and your ongoing efforts to continuously improve, and to the team supporting them including Bruno Macedo , Paulo Borem, M.D. , Andreia Cavaco , Fernando Faraco, Maria Cristina Canavarro and others. Upwards and onwards. #improvement #equity #postnataldepression #mothersandnewborns

"I think the potential is enormous. Care gets more reliable, easier to engage in, the workforce better able to enjoy its pride and joy, and costs will fall—that's the promise of the care operating system model." Watch Don Berwick talk about how IHI Care Operating System (IHI CareOS) bridges the gap between systems science and daily health care work. By empowering leaders, managers, boards, and frontline staff, it promises more reliable care, an engaged workforce, lower costs, and transformational results—moving beyond outdated theories to reimagine health care’s potential. Learn more about IHI CareOS: https://go.ihi.org/42jMnSE Watch this video and more on our YouTube channel: https://go.ihi.org/4iIlGg8

Last week at the IHI office in Boston, a few members of our staff had the opportunity to conduct the Red Bead Experiment with Don Berwick, IHI President Emeritus and Senior Fellow. Initially devised by renowned staticisian W. Edwards Deming, the Red Bead Experiment demonstrates that?workers' performance is often governed by the system they work within, not their individual abilities, and that blaming workers for system problems is ineffective. The experiment uses a control chart to show that even though a “willing worker” wants to do a good job, their success is directly tied to and limited by the nature of the system they are working within. It demonstrates the importance of understanding the process, identifying problems, and implementing solutions, rather than relying on quick fixes or blaming individuals.

Do you have an improvement story to tell the world? Have you learned lessons from your work that would benefit others? Join us on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 12:00 PM ET for the 2025 IHI Forum Proposal Webinar to set your team up for a successful proposal submission. We will share tips, tools, and pitfalls to avoid when writing and submitting a?Forum?session?proposal. We look forward to seeing you at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA, USA this December 7–10 to kick off IHI Forum 2025! Sign up for IHI Forum 2025 today at a discounted early bird rate: https://lnkd.in/gyrrv6M2 Click the Event Page below to register for the webinar. ??

IHI TOOLKIT — How to Talk to Your Patients about End-of-Life Care: A Conversation Ready Toolkit for Clinicians This toolkit helps clinicians engage with patients and families in conversations about care through the end of life, with the goal of providing care that is aligned with patients’ stated goals, values, and preferences. The four cases present patients with diverse backgrounds and experiences at different points of illness, as well as diverse clinicians and care settings. Each case describes the progression of the patient's illness and outlines key considerations for clinicians to engage the patient and family in discussions about what matters most to the patient at the end of life. Download the toolkit here: https://go.ihi.org/4iYqrTf

Palliative care aims to treat symptoms and improve patients' quality of life, even if they are not terminally ill, and should be integrated early in the treatment process. On the latest episode of Turn on the Lights Podcast, Don Berwick and Dr. Kedar Mate are joined by Dr. christine cassel, a pioneer in geriatrics and palliative care, to discuss the importance of early palliative care, and its role in symptom relief and preparing patients and families for the future. She also delves into her current initiative, Bridging Divides, aimed at fostering respectful conversations and reducing polarization within medical schools and beyond. Tune in to learn about Dr. Cassel's impactful career, the evolution of palliative care, and strategies for promoting understanding and unity in a divided world: https://go.ihi.org/4iEnTt6 Turn on the Lights Podcast is also available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Mowlam Healthcare Services, the largest independent provider of nursing home care in Ireland, is now the first residential care provider outside of the United States to have secured Age Friendly Health System Participant status. When discussing the 4Ms Framework of Age-Friendly Care (What Matters, Medication, Mentation, Mobility), Dr PJ Harnett, Head of Integrated Care at Mowlam Healthcare Services, explained “It’s about turning the approach on its head and taking our cue from the needs and wishes of what matters to residents." “Staff have really embraced and welcomed this because they feel it recognizes the everyday unseen personalized interventions that they do,” he added. Read the full article via The Irish Times: https://go.ihi.org/4iCywN8

Is it possible for health care organizations, often competing in the same markets for the same resources, to join together and exchange best practices? The Rise To Health Coalition, launched in December 2022 and co-convened by IHI and health care and racial justice partners, sought to prove that we can all work together to achieve equitable health. The Coalition started with five key audiences within health care: individual practitioners, health care delivery organizations, professional societies, pharmaceutical and biotech, and health plans. Throughout 2024, a cohort of health equity leaders from health plans across the United States came together twice a month to hear from national subject matter experts through a series of roundtables, and to share in closed-door coaching sessions with a health equity expert. Read the full blog here: https://go.ihi.org/4kK12Oq

In times as we are experiencing now, Dr. W. Edwards Deming would argue that this is when a focus on quality and its various components is even more critical to an organization's success. I always find it interesting that when we are in times of austerity and challenge, many health care organizations think more about cutting their focus on quality than strengthening their commitment to quality, efficiency, and effectiveness. When I was in a previous role at a health care organization and we hit a period of austerity, the first thing corporate did was reduce the educational, library services, and quality areas, as well as other "nonessential" services. It was a mistake. Within a few months, however, these areas were reinstated. I think the American health care system will suffer even more if organizations decide to cut their commitment to, and focus on, quality.?Remember that every system is perfectly designed to achieve the results it gets!