Hello Home Care Improvers, CHAMP-ions in every way!

I am an improvement advisor.  That means that I help people, organizations and who ever wants it improve (just ask my husband, he doesn’t always want consultation, but I give it anyway : – )

Home care is a love of mine.  I have worked with CHAMP over the last 4 years improving care for the home-bound to improve medication administration, in particular reducing pain and improving adherence – reducing the likelihood of medication related complications and errors.  The work of the CHAMP teams inspires me to continue in my quest to improve, not just home care, but all transitions in care because they are error prone and so important for continuity of care.

Believe it or not, I started my healthcare career (in the dark ages, back in 1986), a fresh MHA in hand -  managing a group on home health agencies in the Gulf Coast region of Texas.  We had home care, home aid services, a nursing registry to help staff hospitals, a DME company and IV Home Infusion and Pharmacy.   Those were the days!  I feel so lucky because the Home Health Agency nurse managers were strong advocates for patients and I believe they created a Patient-Centric Administrator in me and a Nurse-Centric Leader.  This served me well for the years when I was a hospital CEO and the trend was to be doctor focused, but I had learned another way, and that learning stays with me and informs my work now.

I am excited about watching you learn from each other.  As an adult educator, I know you will learn the most from each other rather than from expert faculty and here is a place to begin.

Please begin sharing with a couple of answers to these questions:

What excites you the most about trying small tests of change for learning?

What feedback have you gotten from staff when they hear you want to try something on a small scale prior to implementation?

If you haven’t done a small test of change yet, what about a few lines about why not?  What is preventing you?  How might you overcome the tyranny of everyday work life to find a moment for a small PDSA cycle?

Let’s hear from you!

Jane Taylor, CHAMP Quality Improvement Advisor