Author: IPRO

PDSA Steps and Tools

This is a guide to the 11 steps through a Plan Do Study Act Cycle. Included for each step: the purpose, procedures, a list of possible tools an improvement team might use to accomplish their goals and the outcome.

CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain – November 2022

This guideline provides recommendations for clinicians providing pain care, including those prescribing opioids, for outpatients aged ≥18 years. It updates the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain — United States, 2016 (MMWR Recomm Rep 2016;65[No. RR-1]:1–49) and includes recommendations for managing acute (duration of <1 month), subacute (duration of 1–3 months), and chronic (duration of >3 months) pain.

The recommendations do not apply to pain related to sickle cell disease or cancer or to patients receiving palliative or end-of-life care.

The guideline addresses the following four areas:

1) determining whether or not to initiate opioids for pain,

2) selecting opioids and determining opioid dosages,

3) deciding duration of initial opioid prescription and conducting follow-up, and

4) assessing risk and addressing potential harms of opioid use.

CDC developed the guideline using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) framework. Recommendations are based on systematic reviews of the scientific evidence and reflect considerations of benefits and harms, patient and clinician values and preferences, and resource allocation.

CDC obtained input from the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (a federally chartered advisory committee), the public, and peer reviewers.

CDC recommends that persons with pain receive appropriate pain treatment, with careful consideration of the benefits and risks of all treatment options in the context of the patient’s circumstances.

Vaccination Rule Checklist

Use this checklist, along with the Vaccination Rule Audit tool, to ensure your policies and procedures have the appropriate elements necessary for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination Final Rule

Integrating Behavioral Health into Primary Care

COVID-19 changed our world, impacting both our physical and mental health. Healthcare professionals are continuing to incorporate safety protocols to help identify COVID-19 cases and protect against spread.

But what is being done to help identify mental health conditions?

Join the IPRO QIN-QIO for an educational program to help primary care offices integrate behavioral health (BH) services (including anxiety and depression screenings) into everyday practice.

This series covered:

  • Building a business case for integrating and partnering with a BH organization.
  • Successful integration of BH into primary care.
  • Best practices for models of integration (collaboration with a BH organization, co-location of BH providers, and full integration of BH providers).

2022 Healthcare Workforce Rescue Package

Two years into a global pandemic, healthcare team members are in crisis. Leaders are bombarded with competing messages
about how to support them and address workforce shortages. A group of experts in collaboration with the National Academy of
Medicine identified the top five actions leaders should take to support team members now. These evidence-based actions can
be initiated within 3 months and build a foundation for a long-term system well-being strategy

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Screening and Management Mobile Apps

Webpage to access the web-based, Apple App Store, and Google Play versions of the Clinician CKD Screening app and the patient-centered Kidney Choices app. IPRO’s Clinician CKD Screening and Patient-Centered Kidney Choices apps were designed to:
-Help identify CKD early in at-risk patients and to help manage CKD
-To help delay progression
-To provide kidney replacement information for patients whose CKD has progressed to kidney failure.

Health Equity Resource Series

These toolkits highlight four compelling strategies to prioritize health equity. These foundational pillars include:
– Data collection, validation, stratification and application of patient information to address disparate outcomes
– Cultural competency and implicit bias training and education
– Diversity and inclusion in leadership and governance roles
– Sustainable community partnerships focused on improving equity

American Heart Association’s “Rise Above Heart Failure”

American Heart Association Go-To-Guide, an easy-to-use, interactive tool designed to empower doctors and nurses to engage heart failure patients.

Resources for Patients

My After Nursing Home Care Plan

Discharge Planning tool completed by nursing home interdisciplinary teams with the patient and caregiver throughout the discharge planning process. Adapted based on materials from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Project RED (Re-engineered Discharge), and the Coleman Transitions Intervention in support of the Special Innovation Project: Improving Nursing Home Discharges Back to The Community Implementation Guide.