Guiding Principles to Address the Impact of Algorithm Bias on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health and Health Care.

Importance: Health care algorithms are used for diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, risk stratification, and allocation of resources. Bias in the development and use of algorithms can lead to worse outcomes for racial and ethnic minoritized groups and other historically marginalized populations such as individuals with lower income.

Objective: To provide a conceptual framework and guiding principles for mitigating and preventing bias in health care algorithms to promote health and health care equity.

Application of Behavioral Economics Principles Improves Participation in Mailed Outreach for Colorectal Cancer Screening.

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality in the United States. Although various interventions have improved screening rates, they often require abundant resources and can be difficult to implement. Social psychology and behavioral economics principles offer an opportunity for low-cost and easy-to-implement strategies but are less common in clinical settings.

Using an online quiz-based reinforcement system to teach healthcare quality and patient safety and care transitions at the University of California.

Quality Issue: Implementing quality improvement (QI) education during clinical training is challenging due to time constraints and inadequate faculty development in these areas.

Initial Assessment: Quiz-based reinforcement systems show promise in fostering active engagement, collaboration, healthy competition and real-time formative feedback, although further research on their effectiveness is required.

Choice Of Solution: An online quiz-based reinforcement system to increase resident and faculty knowledge in QI, patient safety and care transitions.

Leveraging lean principles in creating a comprehensive quality program: The UCLA health readmission reduction initiative.

Introduction: UCLA Health embarked to transform care by integrating lean methodology in a key clinical project, Readmission Reduction Initiative (RRI).

Methods: The first step focused on assembling a leadership team to articulate system-wide priorities for quality improvement. The lean principle of creating a culture of change and accountability was established by: 1) engaging stakeholders, 2) managing the process with performance accountability, and, 3) delivering patient-centered care.

From discharge to readmission: Understanding the process from the patient perspective.

Background: Patient engagement is critical in delivering high-quality care. However, literature investigating patient perspectives on readmissions is lacking.

Objectives: To understand patients' beliefs and attitudes about 30-day readmissions and to elucidate areas for improvement aimed at reducing readmissions.

A randomized, controlled trial of team-based competition to increase learner participation in quality-improvement education.

Objective: Several barriers challenge resident engagement in learning quality improvement (QI). We investigated whether the incorporation of team-based game mechanics into an evidence-based online learning platform could increase resident participation in a QI curriculum.

Design: Randomized, controlled trial.

ABCs of Hospitalized Patients: A Simple Before-After Study of a Communication Tool to Improve Quality of Inpatient Care.

Objectives: Within the past several years, innovative communication tools have been established as viable quality improvement mechanisms in health care. Meanwhile, the economic and societal burdens of hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) continue to rise. Various interventions have been attempted to reduce HACs.

Recent advances in the patient safety and quality initiatives movement: implications for neurosurgery.

The US health care system is fragmented in terms of quality care, costs, and patient satisfaction. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, national attention has been placed on the health care system, but effective change has yet to be observed. Unnecessary costs, medical errors, and uncoordinated efforts contribute to patient morbidity, mortality, and decreased patient satisfaction.

Impact of electronic health records on the patient experience in a hospital setting.

Background: The impact of electronic health records (EHRs) and their effects on optimizing the patient experience has been debated nationally. Currently, there is a paucity of data in this area, and existing research offers conflicting results. Since 2006, the Assessing Residents' CI-CARE (ARC) program has evaluated the physician-patient interaction of resident physicians at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Health utilizing a 20-item questionnaire administered through facilitator-patient interviews.

Analysis of 30-day readmissions among neurosurgical patients: surgical complication avoidance as key to quality improvement.

Unlabelled: OBJECT.: In terms of measuring quality of care and hospital performance, an outcome of increasing interest is the 30-day readmission rate. Recent health care policy making has highlighted the necessity of understanding the factors that influence readmission.

Tracking and sustaining improvement initiatives: leveraging quality dashboards to lead change in a neurosurgical department.

Increasingly, hospitals and physicians are becoming acquainted with business intelligence strategies and tools to improve quality of care. In 2007, the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Neurosurgery created a quality dashboard to help manage process measures and outcomes and ultimately to enhance clinical performance and patient care. At that time, the dashboard was in a platform that required data to be entered manually.

Healthcare reform from the inside: A neurosurgical clinical quality program.

During the past decade, the U.S. health care system has faced increasing challenges in delivering high quality of care, ensuring patient safety, providing access to care, and maintaining manageable costs.

Promoting patient-centred care through trainee feedback: assessing residents' C-I-CARE (ARC) program.

Aims: In recent years, patient satisfaction has been integrated into residency training practices through core competency requirements as set forth by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). In 2006, the UCLA Health Systems established a program designed to obtain patient feedback and assess the communication abilities of resident physicians with a standard tool through the Assessing Residents' C-I-CARE (ARC) Program.

Methods: This Program utilized a 17-item questionnaire, completed via a facilitator-administered interview, which employed polar, Likert and comment scale questions to assess physician trainees' interpersonal and communication skills.

Hospital quality and patient safety competencies: development, description, and recommendations for use.

Background: Hospitalists are poised to have a tremendous impact on improving the quality of care for hospitalized patients. However, many hospitalists are inadequately prepared to engage in efforts to improve quality, because medical schools and residency programs have not traditionally emphasized healthcare quality and patient safety in their curricula.

Methods: Through a multistep process, the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) Quality Improvement Education (QIE) subcommittee developed the Hospital Quality and Patient Safety (HQPS) Competencies to provide a framework for developing and assessing curricula and other professional development experiences.