Quality and performance improvement initiatives at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) strengthen our ability to deliver exceptional outcomes and healthcare that is safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable for every child.
With this in mind, we created our Performance Improvement (PI) group in 2011 to eliminate all serious safety events (hospital-acquired conditions) through the development of high-reliability units and quality improvement microsystems. As part of our department’s educational mission, we offer a year-long course focused on teaching PI methods through coursework and a clinical project, approved by the course directors. Lectures are integrated into the annual curriculum for our residents and fellows. The team also provides an annual educational module for medical students that students in QI methodology and prepares them to integrate quality improvement into their framework of thinking.
Our PI group oversees ongoing quality improvement (QI) projects across all subspecialties and clinical services throughout CHAM. The program includes a range of service areas, such as cardiology, endocrinology, hematology, adolescent medicine, nursing, ambulatory clinics and administration. The group is also responsible for training, mentoring, coaching and providing the tools and resources necessary for our physicians and staff to create, design and conduct a QI project.
CHAM is also a member of the Children's Hospitals Solutions for Patient Safety—a national children's hospital learning network. The network allows us to collaborate with more than 70 other children's hospitals across the nation and work tirelessly to ensure all children receive the right care at the right time. In addition, all faculty physicians in the Department of Pediatrics are required to maintain certification by the American Board of Pediatrics —the leading industry standard for excellence in care. CHAM is one of only a handful of pediatric hospitals in the United States to receive the prestigious Pediatric Portfolio Sponsor designation through the American Board of Pediatrics by demonstrating a rigorous, integrated, high-capacity QI program.