It’s another Friday morning on the ward, and you are looking forward to discharging one of your patients home to spend time in their garden over the weekend. Ms. Jones is an 83-year-old lady admitted a few days ago with what turned out to be a urinary tract infection. Initially weak and slightly confused, after some IV fluids and oral antibiotics, she has been back to her peppy self over the past day. …
HiQuiPs: Consent in Quality Improvement
You’re ready to start a quality improvement (QI) project aimed at improving the effectiveness of the communication surrounding patient prognosis by providers. Your Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles involve retrospective chart reviews, surveys with patients to understand their experiences, and 1:1 key informant interviews with inter-disciplinary staff members in your department. You’ve learned about navigating ethics in quality improvement , and have reached out to your institution’s Research Ethics Board or QI leadership to determine the process …
HiQuiPS: Virtual Care and Inequity Part 2 – Bridging the Digital Divide
You are a Nurse Practitioner who has educated yourself about Canada’s digital divide through personal research and interactions with your own patients. Now that you have a grasp on the source of the problem, you begin to search for solutions. You scour the internet for various services that will provide your patients with access to devices, internet services, and provide technology teachings. Welcome to Part 2 of our Virtual Care and Equity series …
HiQuiPs: Virtual Care and Equity Part 1- Introduction to Digital Inequity
You are a Nurse Practitioner with a practice in a COVID-19 hotspot. The pandemic has forced you to transition into providing virtual care. You are wrapping up your last telemedicine visit of the morning. Your patient is an 80-year-old Chinese female with a possible skin infection. Her granddaughter is with her and translates for you as you run through your HPI questions. Your patient’s granddaughter has a smart phone, and she positions the …
HiQuiPs: Expert’s Corner – Dr. Aikta Verma on Quality Improvement Leadership
HiQuiPs is back with another installment of Expert’s Corner! For this post, we had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Aikta Verma about quality improvement (QI) and quality culture in the Emergency Department (ED). Dr. Verma is the Chief of the Department of Emergency Services at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. She completed a Masters of Health Sciences in Health Administration with a specific interest in QI. She is also an Assistant Professor at …
HiQuiPs: Introduction to Virtual Care – Virtual Processes
As you begin envisioning virtual care in your hospital, you begin to wonder about the details of your program. How do you funnel patients to where they need to be, and how do you ensure that patients receive the care they need? Furthermore, how do you ensure that these processes are cohesive and well structured? Welcome to the second part of the HiQuiPs introduction to virtual care series! In this post, we will …