Hopkins Center Helps Health Systems Improve Quality of Care; Center For Innovation in Quality Patient Care Launches Technical Assistance and Training Services

BALTIMORE -- Johns Hopkins Medicine announced today that its Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care will offer its expertise to medical institutions and health services needing comprehensive quality improvement and training programs.

"The same doctors, nurses and administrators who make Johns Hopkins Medicine one of the most respected healthcare institutions in the world will now assist their colleagues in other hospitals and health centers improve their systems and develop patient-centered models of excellence in research, education and patient care," explains Richard O. Davis, Ph.D., executive director of the center. The Institute of Medicine's recent findings in Crossing the Quality Chasm, combined with calls to action to improve patient safety and patient outcomes has focused out efforts around clinical quality, organizational culture, and patient-focused solutions.

The technical assistance and training services offered focus on the following areas:

- How to Develop Measures of Quality

- How to Implement Programs for Quality

- Patient Safety (Cultural and practical aspects)

- Medication Delivery Systems

- Quality, Safety and Infection Control in settings such as the ICU or the OR

- Nursing and Strategies to Increasing Direct Care Time

- Performance Improvement

"The experts of our center are developing groundbreaking research and innovative pilot programs in over 10 clinical areas of the Johns Hopkins Health System. We are finding efficient ways to transfer those experiences to our colleagues in other institutions who need practical and useful information to improve the quality of their healthcare delivery," explains Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, medical director of the center.

"Our training sessions will be held on site at other hospitals and universities, at the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus in Baltimore and via videoconference," he explains. Pronovost is organizing a one-day course on "Improving Patient Safety: From Rhetoric to Reality" on Wednesday, May 28, 2003, in Baltimore.

Other upcoming commitments include programs with hospitals in the United States, Argentina and Singapore.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care was created in 2002 to develop a patient-centered revamping of healthcare delivery systems at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Based on a grass-roots model, the center coordinates the efforts of physicians, nurses and managers throughout the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions to gather data evaluate changes and recommend and implement best practices. On a fee-for-service the center now offers personnel training, information system support and management tools to facilitate quality improvement in other institution inside and outside the United States.