Quality Improvement Project to Improve Timeliness Between Bronchodilator Treatments from Emergency Department to Medical Wards.

Background: Quality improvement methodology was applied to study sporadic reports that patients with asthma were not given bronchodilator treatments or assessed within an appropriate time frame when they were admitted from the emergency department to the medical ward. The goal was to increase the number of patients who had an interval between emergency department assessment/bronchodilator treatment and medical ward assessment/treatment of <120 min.

Methods: A flow chart diagram, a fishbone diagram, data collection, intervention implementation, and data monitoring and analysis were used in this study.

Collaborative accountability for care transitions: the community care of North Carolina transitions program.

Community Care of North Carolina initiated efforts to improve care transitions for North Carolina Medicaid recipients in 2008. The transitions program is now statewide, serving more than 4,000 patients every month, virtually every North Carolina hospital, and more than 1,400 primary care practices. This commentary describes program components, early outcomes, and future challenges.