QI Strategies for Improving Family/Caregiver Written Discharge Instructions
The Pediatric Hospital Care Improvement Project (P-HIP) Collaborative developed and used a set of specific strategies to attain the Aim of the collaborative, which was to “improve overall performance on quality of family/caregiver written discharge instructions content…”
Before the start of the Collaborative, interviews were conducted with the high performing hospitals to identify strategies that contributed to their success. These strategies were the backbone of the initial Key Driver Diagram [see below for identified key drivers]. Participating teams conducted a gap analysis comparing their practices with those outlined in the Key Driver Diagram to understand where they had the most opportunity for improvement. The P-HIP team used the AHRQ Gap Analysis Tool (PDF). A description of the team’s approach based on this tool is available in the How to Use the Change Package and Tools section of the Promoting Safe Hospital-to-Home Transitions change package (PDF, page 4).
The Key Driver Diagram included a set of quality improvement strategies that fall into five (5) categories of activities. Each key driver and related strategies/changes is described in the Change Strategies for Improving Written Family/Caregiver Discharge Instructions section of the Promoting Safe Hospital-to-Home Transitions change package (PDF, page 7).
- Standardized written family/caregiver discharge instructions process/checklist.
- Standardized policies.
- Role clarification and staff education.
- Data feedback loop for continuous improvement.
- Built-in error proofing.
Each of these strategies, lessons learned, and vignettes from participating hospitals can be adapted and tailored for use by other organizations.
