SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Gme Health Systems Science Program to Improve Institutional Quality Metrics

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This document describes a Health Systems Science (HSS) educational initiative within an Internal Medicine residency program at Cooper University Hospital. The program was designed to teach residents systems thinking, improvement science, and health care delivery structure while also giving them practical experience in quality improvement.<br /><br />To create this experience, the residency program partnered with the institution’s Heart Failure Performance Improvement team to support compliance with the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines–Heart Failure (AHA GWTG-HF) program. Resident volunteers were recruited to work on three cardiology-focused quality improvement projects: improving heart failure discharge instructions, improving timely post-discharge follow-up appointments, and increasing discharge prescriptions for guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT).<br /><br />Eight residents participated with faculty mentorship and received targeted teaching in improvement science, change management, institutional quality metrics, project design, goal-setting, and presentation skills. Their work was discussed at regular performance improvement committee meetings and coordinated closely with the hospital’s heart failure quality team.<br /><br />The projects produced meaningful results. Two led to significant improvements in readmission rates and GDMT prescribing at discharge, while the third identified important barriers to arranging follow-up appointments after discharge. Overall, the initiative helped improve the hospital’s adherence to AHA GWTG-HF measures and contributed to the institution earning the Silver Plus Award in the program.<br /><br />The authors conclude that HSS education can benefit both learners and health systems by combining resident education with institutional quality improvement. Future work will focus on evaluating the educational impact on residents and continuing progress in heart failure performance metrics.

Asset Subtitle

Kevin d'Mello

Meta Tag

Author List Cynthia Glickman, Kevin d'Mello

Category Innovations

Concept Health Systems Science

Concept Systems Thinking

Concept Implementation Science

Concept GWTG-HF Score

Concept Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization Cooper University Hospital

Presenting Author Kevin d'Mello

Track Education

Keywords

Health Systems Science

Internal Medicine Residency

Quality Improvement

Heart Failure

AHA Get With The Guidelines

Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy

Discharge Instructions

Post-Discharge Follow-Up

Performance Improvement

Resident Education

Health Systems Science

Systems Thinking

Implementation Science

GWTG-HF Score

Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy