Scaling up best practices for better patient care
‘ENSURE SAFER SYSTEM FRAMEWORK’IN SINGHEALTH
As part of the efforts by the Ministry of Health to build sustainable expertise for self-sufficiency, IPSQ was appointed as the Cluster Deployment Lead to facilitate the implementation of the ‘Ensure Safer System Framework’ in SingHealth. The framework aims to advance the healthcare system towards higher reliability and address quality goals beyond the Joint Commission International accreditation. QI tools such as benchmarks against international standards and third party assessments will be incorporated into the development and implementation of a change management programme infrastructure and its communication plans, while coordinating leadership and training activities and developing metrics and regular reporting.
NATIONAL DIABETES MANAGEMENT COLLABORATIVE
Co-led by Assoc Prof Goh Su Yen, Head, SingHealth Duke-NUS Diabetes Centre and Dr Edwin Low, Director, Programme Development, SingHealth Regional Health System, IPSQ embarked on the ‘National Diabetes Management Collaborative’ with the aim to reduce hospital admissions with diabetes as the primary diagnosis. Adopting the ‘Model for Improvement’ by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and grounded by the principles of improvement sciences and experiential learning, the team of QI facilitators created a collaborative learning model that enabled teams to work on specific challenges over a short period of time.
IPSQ-GURUS (GROUND UP, REACH UP TO SCALE)
IPSQ-GURUS is a QI initiative that focuses on the following areas of healthcare: Infection Prevention and Control, Medication and Medical Device Safety, Patient-Centred Care Design, Patient Safety in Primary Care, Safety during the Transition of Care, Safety of High-Risk Clinical Services and Value-Based Improvements. Comprising IPSQ facilitators and representatives from hospitals in SingHealth, the IPSQ-GURUS is the latest cluster collaboration that seeks to harmonise policies, processes, training and patient education across institutions. The first project by the IPSQ-GURUS is the ‘Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Improvement-GURU’.
Sharing and Adapting of SPAN Model and TeamSPEAKTM
The model for the SingHealth Patient Advocacy Network (SPAN) – comprising patients and caregivers who represent the collective voice of patients – and TeamSPEAK™ have been shared globally at the ‘International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare’ in September 2021.
The SPAN model was also shared regionally at the third ‘Asia-Pacific Patients Congress (APPC)’ in November 2021, locally at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Scientific Congress and Singapore Healthcare Management Congress, and adapted internally by SingHealth institutions.
Engagement toolkit for patients and families in healthcare improvement projects
The SPAN ‘Membership Development Roadmap’ was introduced in 2021 to empower SPAN members in their roles as ‘Partners in Improvement’. SPAN also published an ‘Engagement Toolkit for Patients and Families in Healthcare Improvement Projects’ in May 2021 to encourage healthcare teams to partner patients and families in their QI projects.