Quoteworthy
As an educator, we support and validate others’ emotions as they’re learning. It's important that we take care of ourselves, too.
Emma Gauci, Sarah Smith, and Paige Wilson

Most Recent
Candi's Story: When Health Care's Failings Hit Home

Utah’s Chief Medical Quality Officer Dr. Bob Pendleton shares his sister's experience navigating cancer care and challenges the idea of what it means to be a doctor: What if we were committed to understanding what matters to our patients, and then we used that information to improve care?

Unraveling Reform: The Future of Bundled Payments

We asked Zac Watne, Utah’s payment innovation manager (he gets paid to understand the volatile world of payment reform) to give us a primer on “bundles.” Regardless of change happening in health care, thought leaders predict that payment reform, and specifically bundled payments, are here to stay. Why? Bundles deliver care with improved outcomes at a lower price all over the United States. In this post, Zac predicts the future of bundles.

The Two Rules of Process Mapping

Process mapping is easy. But also hard. This is a common conundrum with value improvement. Here's part 1 of 4, wherein rules are distinguished from guidance.

Reasons to Build a Process Map

It’s part 2 of 4 in our series on process mapping. This post is about the reasons to build a process map. They’re inexpensive and so very often bear fruit for your effort.

Common Facilitation Challenges When Process Mapping

It’s the third consecutive post in the Dojo’s summer of process mapping. Today I discuss 4 common facilitation issues LSS practitioners can avoid prior to, and during a mapping effort.

An Evidence-based Case for Teamwork

The hard work of improving value includes leading and engaging a team. Two improvers, Emily Carlson and Dr. Lauren Wood, share how they kept their teams engaged throughout a long (and sometimes inconclusive) improvement process.

Common Mistakes When Process Mapping

It’s post 4 of 4 in the Dojo’s process mapping series, which means summer is almost over. Today’s post is a listicle of technical items to watch for in your process map.

Patient Engagement at the HOME Program

Dr. Kyle Bradford Jones describes how UNI’s HOME program solves its biggest problems and prevents patient burnout by asking patients for actionable input. The HOME program designs improvements with patients, rather than for patients.

How UNI Decreased Delay to Admission (And Improved Team Engagement)

Want to show your new employees that you respect them and you’re committed to making things better? Social work manager Kevin Curtis used University of Utah Health’s value improvement methodology to confront one of the most common challenges in health care—getting patients from the ED to a bed. Using concepts from lean and six sigma, Curtis identified waste, prioritized root causes, and fostered his team’s shared purpose in getting patients quickly to care.

Avoiding a Fashion Faux-pas: 6 Steps To the Perfect Tie Length

Improvement science is about making everyday tasks easier and faster. This week, Steve uses the 6-phase value improvement methodology to build a highly-reliable morning routine.

Why Rounding Works for Patient Satisfaction

Research* shows that nurse leader rounds improves a patient’s experience. This practice remains high on the list of manager “must-do’s.” But where to start, and how to keep going? Nurse Managers Melinda Patterson and Jane Nielsen share their practical approaches to moving this idea into action.

Patient Designers On Discharge Education

Reducing readmissions requires patient partnership. Ever wonder why your thoughtfully planned improvement to reduce readmissions didn’t quite achieve the goal? This month, the Patient Design Studio weighs in with simple advice: make it easy for me to find what I need to know.