Home Quality & Safety Quality Improvement Tools

Quality Improvement Tools

How to Use the Tools?

The HQPS Committee is compiling on an on-going basis a variety of quality improvement tools used by our membership to enhance patient safety and quality of inpatient care. The tools are a heterogenous group of documents and include order sets, guidelines, templates, and worksheets. They have been implemented in a variety of clinical settings and serve as a resource for individuals working within their own institutions to develop interventions that can improve inpatient care.

The resources listed have not been formally studied by the HQPS committee, nor has their content been validated for accuracy. Each submission is accompanied by a cover sheet that lists the following:

This information will help guide you through the tools to better identify those that may be best suited fro your specific hospital setting. In addition, we want to highlight that QI tools by themselves do not lead to improvement. Interventions must be embedded in care processes within a particular care setting, and that the development of any strategy to improve care must be a partnership between the specific intervention and the people and work processes affected.

With this brief background, we hope that you find the QI tools useful in your efforts to improve inpatient care.

How to submit a tool?

Table of Contents

Acute myocardial infarction

• Acute Coronary Syndrome
• ST Elevation

Anticoagulation

• In-Hospital Warfarin Initiation

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease/Asthma

• COPD Pathway

Community-Acquired Pneumonia

• Community Acquired Pneumonia Pathway and Orderset (Boston Medical Center)
• Community Acquired Pneumonia Admission Orders (Presbyterian Hospital) 

Discharge Planning

• Ideal Discharge for the Elderly Patient
• Discharge Patient Education Tool (DPET) 
• Discharge Knowledge Assessment Tool (DKAT) 
• Medication Reconciliation - Admission Form 
• Medication Reconciliation - Discharge Form
• Heart Failure-Specific Discharge Planning Checklist 

Geriatric Care

• Clinical Toolbox for Geriatric Care

Glycemic Control

• Insulin Subcutanous Orders (Presbyterian Hospital)
• Subcutaneous Insulin Order Set (UCSD Medical Centers)
• Inpatient Diabetic Management Protocol
• Critical Care Unit Insulin Infusion Orders

Heart Failure

• CHF Clinical Pathway
• Cardiac Discharge Instructions
• HF Discharge Pathway
• HF Discharge Orders 

Information Management & Patient Education

• Medication Calendars
  • General Medication Calendar 
  • Around the Clock Medication Calendar 
  • As Needed Medication Calendar

Multidisciplinary Admission History and Physical Assessment

• History and Physical Form

Polypharmacy

• Medication Education in Heart Failure Patients Reference Guide
• Potentially Hazardous Interactions for the Heart Failure Patient Reference Guide

Pre-operative evaluation and Perioperative management

• Betablocker Protocol and Preop Assessment Tool

Sickle Cell Pain Crisis

• Sickle Cell Pain Crisis (Presbyterian Hospital)

Skin and Wound Care

• Pressure Ulcer Protocol Prevention and Treatment

Team Communications

• Conceptual Model for Teamwork
• Inpatient Goal Sheet
• Hospitalist Admission and Daily Rounding Checklist

Urinary Infections

• Urinary Tract Infection Antibiotic Protocol and Inpatient Order Set

VTE prophylaxis

• Adult Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis Order Form
• VTE Prophylaxis Carilion Medical Center