Tools

Tools

Boards can Acquire Confidence to Lead Through Learning about Quality and Patient Safety

• Canadian Health Services Research Foundation has quality improvement stories from across Canada on their website. These stories highlight quality improvement initiatives across healthcare organizations and show how to improve quality at various levels of healthcare. Stories include:
  • A Passion for Quality
  • Better Care for the Chronically Ill
  • Measure Twice – Cut Once, Reducing Unnecessary Medical Treatments
  • Setting Standards is a Matter of Life and Death
  • The Digital Warehouse
  • Converting Data into Quality in Manitoba
• Key discussion questions for boards to consider around education (McDonagh et al, 2008)
  1. Do we have a formal educational process that goes beyond incorporating educational information into our board meetings?
  2. How do we orient new board members?
  3. Does our board participate in an annual retreat?
•  The Ottawa Hospital Board retreat agenda, which has clear objectives:
  • Achieve a common understanding of key success factors to become a top 10% North American performer in quality and patient safety.
  • Determine next steps in our journey to become a top performer in quality and patient safety.
•  Enable board members to ‘speak the same language’ as hospital staff by developing a glossary of key safety terms as well as healthcare acronyms (Source: St. Joseph’s Hospital Hamilton)
•  Submissions for the Call for Posters and Quality Awards for Saskatoon Health Region’s Annual Quality and Safety Fair are linked to strategic organizational goals.
•  Ontario Health Quality Council Improvement Guide
• Ontario Health Quality Council Improvement Guide for Long-Term Care
• Modules and curriculum for board training on quality and safety:
• IHI Get Boards on Board Campaign (tools, videos and templates available on IHI website www.ihi.org)
•  OHA & Governance Center of Excellence “Quality and Patient Safety: Understanding the Role of the Board”
•  Canadian Root Cause Analysis Framework and training

Quality Committee of the Board

• Sample charter for Board Quality Committee
•  Quality Committee Terms of Reference, Vancouver Island Health Authority

Recommended Reading:

• Mcdonagh, KJ, Chenoweth, J, Totten, MK, Orlikoff, JE (2008) “Connecting Governance Culture and Hospital Performance Improvement” Trustee 61(4)
• Langley, GJ et al. (2009) The Improvement Guide: A Practical Approach to Enhancing Organizational Performance. Jossey-Bass