Institute for Healthcare Improvement

This two-day interactive seminar will enable organizations to initiate changes leading to substantial improvements in access, patient and provider satisfaction, quality of clinical care, as well as increased revenue.

This program is one way that IHI is helping hospitals implement a key component of the Improvement Map. The aim of this Expedition is to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infections by reducing unnecessary catheter days.

This program is one way that IHI is helping hospitals implement a key component of the Improvement Map. The aim of this Expedition is to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infections by reducing unnecessary catheter days.

IHI Senior Fellow Gerry Healy talks about the role of improving the quality and safety of surgery and the focus of his work at IHI.

Local health leaders in areas with a high burden of HIV/AIDS lack simple tools to assess the need for adequate HIV/AIDS services. This paper and accompanying calculator provide a method to leverage available data and set targets for local HIV/AIDS services.

 

View the South Africa HAART Calculator.

Bar coding technology – formally known as bar code medication administration, or BCMA – offers an opportunity to reduce medication errors significantly.  According to Frank Federico, however, BCMA is not a magic bullet; a BCMA system will work only as well as it’s implemented.  To get the most out of it, hospitals must build a solid foundation before implementing BCMA, with nurses and pharmacists working together to lead the effort to reduce errors. 

Statements from IHI leaders about the appointment of IHI President and CEO Don Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The "tried and tested" models reflect the range of great work that is being done on the ground by committed, creative front-line health care workers, managers, partners, and funders in their efforts to meet the unprecedented challenges of the HIV epidemic. This document brings together effective and reliable ideas that put patients at the center of the system of care. [The document is available for download in its entirety (very large PDF file), or in component parts.]

Health care leaders and improvement experts representing 15 countries met in October 2008 to catalyze the adoption of quality improvement (QI) methods to improve health care quality in resource-poor settings. This paper describes the evidence used to frame deliberations, the proceedings, and a proposal for incorporating QI methods into plans for strengthening health systems.

Shadowing is a great way to learn more about a specific field and to see what a “day in the life” is like for a person in that field. Shadowing a different profession may open your eyes to aspects of your work you haven’t considered before.  You’ll also gain insight about the kinds of challenges that your future team members may face. 

2010 press releases

Standard order sets help to minimize incorrect or incomplete prescribing, standardize patient care, and ensure clarity when communicating medical orders. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has developed guidelines to help organizations ensure that the elements of safe order communication have been followed when designing paper-based or electronic order sets. The guidelines are available in the form of a downloadable checklist.

This article describes two of four necessary skills health care leaders need to develop in order to "blink" appropriately (i.e., make decisions based on robust analysis and interpretation of data): understanding and depicting variation, and translating data into information. [Read Part 1]

In partnership with JAMA, this program is designed to bring clinical evidence into practice by connecting practitioners to authors of JAMA articles.

Use this self-assessment tool to assess how your organization is performing in relation to specific components of patient- and family-centered care, or as a basis for conversations about patient centeredness in the organization; developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA), in collaboration with the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality.

This matrix cross-references 2009 Joint Commission Leadership Standards with the updated 2010 Joint Commission standards and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services standards; developed by St. Joseph Hospital (Orange, California, USA).

This two-day seminar provides participants with a set of tools to use and apply in their emergency departments (EDs) to reduce costs and improve patient throughput in the hospital. Participants will be guided through a series of topics critical for efficient ED operations, including how to optimize ED patient flow, operations, and service.

As part of IHI’s Collaborative on Improving Perinatal Care, Middlesex Hospital (Middletown, Connecticut, USA) sought to reduce harm in labor and delivery through measures designed to reduce variation in care, and implement interventions for patient-centered care.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is an independent not-for-profit organization helping to lead the improvement of health care throughout the world.

Oral decontamination of mechanically ventilated adults using chlorhexidine is associated with a lower risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia. The recommended chlorhexidine solution strength is 0.12%.