IHI Forum Reflections: 10 'Aha' Moments

6. Debbie Robins, patient safety officer at 626-bed Shands Healthcare of the University of Florida in Gainsville and Jacksonville.

"Our environmental services staff is responsible for general cleaning, like mopping floors and emptying trash and visual aesthetics. But they're also responsible for 'terminal bed cleaning,' which is needed whenever we discharge a patient, and until that's done, the emergency department bottleneck can't be cleared.  When someone suggested that there should be two types of environmental services teams, it would greatly improve patient flow. Several of us who attended that session looked at each other and said 'Why didn't we think of that?' "

7. Win Whitcomb, MD medical director of 659-bed Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, MA.

"I was impressed with Kaiser Permanente's demonstration of how they used video to capture patient experience with readmitted patients (revealing the circumstances that brought them back to the hospital, for use as a training tool for all providers on the team.) Use of video can tell a story that you can't get in any other way."

8. Susan Cissone, RN, clinical coordinator, 665-bed Abington Memorial Hospital, PA.

"Hospitals have to reach out to the communities to prevent emergency room visits. And one way, in an urban setting, might be something like the 'Adopt-A-Grandparent' program. Let's say you have a young, single mother whose child won't stop crying.  She comes to the emergency department because she thinks that's her only choice. Adopt-a-Grandparent might give her another, and opens up horizons to see how people are doing different things."

9. Sue Garszczynski, quality manager at Watson Clinic, Lakeland, FL.

"We can make sure that patient satisfaction makes a great turnaround by improving the appointment times for physicians to see patients, starting with the way appointments are made."

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