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Jeffrey Glasheen, MD, had not considered focusing on quality improvement (QI) while studying at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It was not until a medical error led to the death of a family member that his eyes were opened to the potential consequences of a system not invested in care quality.
“I couldn’t square with it because I had spent the last two to three years of my life working with some of the most dedicated, passionate, hard working people who all were trying to improve lives, and the fact that what I was seeing could result in a family member dying just didn’t make sense,” said Dr. Glasheen. “At the time I thought ‘This must be one of those unfortunate things that happens once in a lifetime,’ and I put it on the back burner.”
As more research on medical errors emerged, however, Dr. Glasheen realized his family’s experience was not as unique as he had thought.
It was after reading the now famous Institute of Medicine report, “To err is human,” which found that medical errors were responsible for 44,000-98,000 deaths a year, that Dr. Glasheen resolved to pursue a career in quality improvement.
Because it was early in his medical career, he began on a small level, teaching his residents about the importance of patient safety and giving lessons on core competencies involved in quality care and higher liability. But he quickly expanded his efforts.
“I started with what I had control over,” Dr. Glasheen explained. “From there, I moved to teaching more medical students, which lead to teaching in front of classrooms, which opened the door to the idea of starting a hospitalist training program.”
In 2003, Dr. Glasheen pitched the program to the University of Colorado at Denver, Aurora, where he completed his residency; this pitch led to the development of a hospitalist training program that focused on improving safety outcomes.
He served as the director of the University of Colorado Hospital Medicine Group from 2003 to 2015, during which time he was approached by the dean to assist in creating and leading the hospitalist training program for internal medicine residents.
The first of its kind, the rigorous University of Colorado program was designed to give residents tools useful beyond the clinical setting to become successful health system leaders.
In 2013, Dr. Glasheen and his colleagues founded the Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety & Efficiency, which is guided by the mission to improve the quality of care provided on the local level. He has since become the chief quality officer for UCHealth and the University of Colorado Hospital Authority and an associate dean for clinical affairs in quality and safety education, as well as continuing to be a professor of medicine.
For those hoping to pursue quality improvement, Dr. Glasheen stressed the importance of a strong basis in data analytics.
“One of the most common things I see with data is people start to chase what’s called common cause variation, which means they’ll look at a run chart over the course of 12 months and react to every up and down when those are essentially random,” Dr. Glasheen said. “Being able to understand when something is particularly significant and when your interventions are actually making an impact is a skill set I think people who are new to quality improvement don’t often have.”
Having support from board members is also critical to success, although starting without such support should not deter future QI leaders.
“There needs to be a vision from the leadership that this work is important, and not just through words but through deeds, because no board in the country will say that quality is not important,” Dr. Glasheen said. “I would say start with small projects you can control, that tie back not only to patient lives but financial performance as well. If you can tell a board you saved the lives of 40 patients who would have died during the year and saved $1-$2 million in the process, the question will shift from whether the board should invest in QI resources to how much should be invested.”
Looking ahead, Dr. Glasheen highlighted the growing importance of hospital-acquired infections, such as surgical-site infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and ventilator-associated pneumonia, as areas that need to be focused on in the QI sphere.
Jeffrey Glasheen, MD, had not considered focusing on quality improvement (QI) while studying at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It was not until a medical error led to the death of a family member that his eyes were opened to the potential consequences of a system not invested in care quality.
“I couldn’t square with it because I had spent the last two to three years of my life working with some of the most dedicated, passionate, hard working people who all were trying to improve lives, and the fact that what I was seeing could result in a family member dying just didn’t make sense,” said Dr. Glasheen. “At the time I thought ‘This must be one of those unfortunate things that happens once in a lifetime,’ and I put it on the back burner.”
As more research on medical errors emerged, however, Dr. Glasheen realized his family’s experience was not as unique as he had thought.
It was after reading the now famous Institute of Medicine report, “To err is human,” which found that medical errors were responsible for 44,000-98,000 deaths a year, that Dr. Glasheen resolved to pursue a career in quality improvement.
Because it was early in his medical career, he began on a small level, teaching his residents about the importance of patient safety and giving lessons on core competencies involved in quality care and higher liability. But he quickly expanded his efforts.
“I started with what I had control over,” Dr. Glasheen explained. “From there, I moved to teaching more medical students, which lead to teaching in front of classrooms, which opened the door to the idea of starting a hospitalist training program.”
In 2003, Dr. Glasheen pitched the program to the University of Colorado at Denver, Aurora, where he completed his residency; this pitch led to the development of a hospitalist training program that focused on improving safety outcomes.
He served as the director of the University of Colorado Hospital Medicine Group from 2003 to 2015, during which time he was approached by the dean to assist in creating and leading the hospitalist training program for internal medicine residents.
The first of its kind, the rigorous University of Colorado program was designed to give residents tools useful beyond the clinical setting to become successful health system leaders.
In 2013, Dr. Glasheen and his colleagues founded the Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety & Efficiency, which is guided by the mission to improve the quality of care provided on the local level. He has since become the chief quality officer for UCHealth and the University of Colorado Hospital Authority and an associate dean for clinical affairs in quality and safety education, as well as continuing to be a professor of medicine.
For those hoping to pursue quality improvement, Dr. Glasheen stressed the importance of a strong basis in data analytics.
“One of the most common things I see with data is people start to chase what’s called common cause variation, which means they’ll look at a run chart over the course of 12 months and react to every up and down when those are essentially random,” Dr. Glasheen said. “Being able to understand when something is particularly significant and when your interventions are actually making an impact is a skill set I think people who are new to quality improvement don’t often have.”
Having support from board members is also critical to success, although starting without such support should not deter future QI leaders.
“There needs to be a vision from the leadership that this work is important, and not just through words but through deeds, because no board in the country will say that quality is not important,” Dr. Glasheen said. “I would say start with small projects you can control, that tie back not only to patient lives but financial performance as well. If you can tell a board you saved the lives of 40 patients who would have died during the year and saved $1-$2 million in the process, the question will shift from whether the board should invest in QI resources to how much should be invested.”
Looking ahead, Dr. Glasheen highlighted the growing importance of hospital-acquired infections, such as surgical-site infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and ventilator-associated pneumonia, as areas that need to be focused on in the QI sphere.
Jeffrey Glasheen, MD, had not considered focusing on quality improvement (QI) while studying at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It was not until a medical error led to the death of a family member that his eyes were opened to the potential consequences of a system not invested in care quality.
“I couldn’t square with it because I had spent the last two to three years of my life working with some of the most dedicated, passionate, hard working people who all were trying to improve lives, and the fact that what I was seeing could result in a family member dying just didn’t make sense,” said Dr. Glasheen. “At the time I thought ‘This must be one of those unfortunate things that happens once in a lifetime,’ and I put it on the back burner.”
As more research on medical errors emerged, however, Dr. Glasheen realized his family’s experience was not as unique as he had thought.
It was after reading the now famous Institute of Medicine report, “To err is human,” which found that medical errors were responsible for 44,000-98,000 deaths a year, that Dr. Glasheen resolved to pursue a career in quality improvement.
Because it was early in his medical career, he began on a small level, teaching his residents about the importance of patient safety and giving lessons on core competencies involved in quality care and higher liability. But he quickly expanded his efforts.
“I started with what I had control over,” Dr. Glasheen explained. “From there, I moved to teaching more medical students, which lead to teaching in front of classrooms, which opened the door to the idea of starting a hospitalist training program.”
In 2003, Dr. Glasheen pitched the program to the University of Colorado at Denver, Aurora, where he completed his residency; this pitch led to the development of a hospitalist training program that focused on improving safety outcomes.
He served as the director of the University of Colorado Hospital Medicine Group from 2003 to 2015, during which time he was approached by the dean to assist in creating and leading the hospitalist training program for internal medicine residents.
The first of its kind, the rigorous University of Colorado program was designed to give residents tools useful beyond the clinical setting to become successful health system leaders.
In 2013, Dr. Glasheen and his colleagues founded the Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety & Efficiency, which is guided by the mission to improve the quality of care provided on the local level. He has since become the chief quality officer for UCHealth and the University of Colorado Hospital Authority and an associate dean for clinical affairs in quality and safety education, as well as continuing to be a professor of medicine.
For those hoping to pursue quality improvement, Dr. Glasheen stressed the importance of a strong basis in data analytics.
“One of the most common things I see with data is people start to chase what’s called common cause variation, which means they’ll look at a run chart over the course of 12 months and react to every up and down when those are essentially random,” Dr. Glasheen said. “Being able to understand when something is particularly significant and when your interventions are actually making an impact is a skill set I think people who are new to quality improvement don’t often have.”
Having support from board members is also critical to success, although starting without such support should not deter future QI leaders.
“There needs to be a vision from the leadership that this work is important, and not just through words but through deeds, because no board in the country will say that quality is not important,” Dr. Glasheen said. “I would say start with small projects you can control, that tie back not only to patient lives but financial performance as well. If you can tell a board you saved the lives of 40 patients who would have died during the year and saved $1-$2 million in the process, the question will shift from whether the board should invest in QI resources to how much should be invested.”
Looking ahead, Dr. Glasheen highlighted the growing importance of hospital-acquired infections, such as surgical-site infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and ventilator-associated pneumonia, as areas that need to be focused on in the QI sphere.