Many projects involving clinical quality & safety have been completed, and numerous projects are being conducted at both Hadassah hospitals. Some areas indicate the need for improvement.
Our Center's main areas of project activity are:
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The Emergency Room
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Departments of Medicine
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Departments of Surgery
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Obstetrics and Gynecology
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Radiology
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Cross-institutional projects
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Projects involving quality outside Hadassah, health promotion or decision analysis
Completed and current projects at Hadassah include:
Promoting a healthy campus at Hadassah
Healthy lifestyle behavior counseling of patients by medical students
Reducing intimidating behavior among Hadassah staff
Preventing delivery room acquired infections
Increasing hand hygiene compliance by hospital staff
Reducing rates of ventilator-associated pneumonia in patients on respirators
Medication reconciliation
Allowing a family member to be present during doctors' rounds
Does medical school educate for professional values?
Catheter-related bloodstream infections: 62% rate reduction after an intervention
The potential role of Xray technicians and mobile radiography equipment in the transmission of multi-resistant drug resistant bacteria in the ICU
An economic evaluation of physical activity and implications for its promotion
Quality of care at end-of-life
Other activities of our Center include workshops, presentations and publications at national and international forums.
In June, 2006, our Center conducted a seminar on the patients' right law and end-of-life decision-making. In November of that year, we offered a two-week course on palliative care. In 2011, we began workshops at the National Medical SimulationCenter to improve the quality of communication at end-of-life between staff, families and patients.
Coumadin instruction kits for patients and their family physicians, the first of its kind in Israel, were developed by our Center. Hadassah's patients are responding enthusiastically to the new coumadin kits and Israel's medical community has been positively impressed. Some of the HMOs, such as Leumit and Maccabi, have started using the kits for their patients.
Our Center's projects have won prizes at the annual conference of the Israeli Society for Quality in Medicine (For example: Reducing rates of ventilator-associated pneumonia in patients on respirators); the annual conference on Medical Policy in Israel (An economic evaluation of physical activity and implications for its promotion); and the Braun School of Public Health Research Day (Catheter-related bloodstream infections: 62% rate reduction after an intervention) .
In conclusion, although our Center consists of a small team, we have conducted and continue to conduct many diverse projects in our attempt to make healthcare at Hadassah more patient-centered, more evidence-based and more system-minded. Increasing accountability by department heads for quality and safety may be a key to further successes in the field.
We also serve as advisors to students from the Faculty of Medicine on projects involving clinical quality.
More information on our Center and its projects and activities, both in English and in Hebrew, can be found in the various sections of this website.
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