The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is a non-profit health care improvement organization that is recognized globally and located in Boston, MA. It was founded in 1991 and for over 30 years, has been using the science of improvement to improve quality of care. IHI focuses on four key elements as the definition of the science of improvement, which include appreciation for systems, understanding variation, theory of knowledge and psychology. IHI also has a large focus on whole system quality which allows improvements to occur through activities across multiple levels of a system.
IHI held their Annual Forum General Session in Orlando, Florida, December 10 -11. During the forum, participants were offered 175 sessions across 10 tracks, and over 500 poster presentations to learn from. Keynote speakers were:
- Kedar Mate, MD, President and CEO of IHI
- Thomas Lee, MD, CMO Press Gainey, Senior Physician, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
- Anthony Fauci, MD, Former Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Former Chief Medical Advisor to the President of the United States
- Dannagal Young, PhD, Professor of Communication and Political Science, University of Delaware
- Donald Berwick, MD, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, IHI
Michelle Jury, Clinical Improvement Consultant at the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations (SDAHO) attended this year’s forum. Jury stated, “It was very empowering to be among such a large group of individuals from CEOs to front line staff who are deeply dedicated to improving quality of care for the patients they serve. The focus of IHI on system quality really hits all the important areas when looking to improve processes.”
Jury says another key takeaway was about investing in relationships across the system. Kedar Mate, MD, CEO of IHI, in his keynote speech said, “Investing in relationships is the ‘secret sauce’ of quality… patients and staff should be asked what matters to them not just about what is wrong.”
Thomas Lee, CMO of Press Gainey and Senior Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital presented on social capital and what this should look like within a healthcare system, including activities such as:
- safety huddles
- managers checking in regularly with those that they supervise
- colleagues saying “yes” to help each other without having to know all the details
- respecting hand hygiene
- patients trusting their caregivers
Anthony Fauci, MD reviewed challenges and successes with his work on HIV and Ebola as well as the Covid pandemic. Dannagal Young, PhD spoke on a personal lived experience around the death of her husband which led her to be more susceptible to health care misinformation. Both spoke on the importance of quality work and how science based in evidence needs to continue to push forward despite misinformation, stating the work is too important to back down from. Education about the scientific process, improved communication, along with empathy and humility and connection to social needs are what they both felt is needed to lead to better understanding between groups of differing opinions.
Besides keynotes, Jury also attended sessions on:
- Survey Readiness to Sustainability
- Engaging Physicians in Quality Improvement
- Walking Quality Rounds
- Calculating Return on Investment of a Quality Improvement Project
- Lessons from the Field from Chief Quality Officers
- Tools for Understanding Variation in Data
Jury spoke about the key takeaways from the conference saying, “Throughout all the sessions, the key takeaways were to listen to those we are caring for and those we are working with and to have empathy for their needs. Empathy, listening, and communication lead to understanding and empowerment which is a very powerful catalyst for improving quality of care.” Michelle Jury, BSN, RN, CPHQ
For more information on the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), visit their website at ihi.org
