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Sprint Team Approach Yields Rapid Improvement in Leapfrog Quality Indicators
Ghazala Q Sharieff, Craig Uejo1
1Scripps Health, San Diego, California.
Summary
Multidisciplinary sprint teams effectively reduced hospital-acquired infections and readmissions by implementing evidence-based checklists. This approach standardized care, improving patient safety and quality outcomes across various clinical areas.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Quality Improvement
- Patient Safety Research
- Infection Control
Background:
- Healthcare organizations continuously aim to enhance patient safety and care quality.
- Reducing hospital-acquired conditions and readmissions is crucial for meeting regulatory standards (e.g., Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) and improving survey scores (e.g., Leapfrog Hospital Survey).
Purpose of the Study:
- To implement and evaluate the effectiveness of multidisciplinary sprint teams in reducing specific hospital-acquired infections and readmissions.
- To develop and utilize evidence-based checklists as a tool for standardizing care and improving performance in targeted areas.
Main Methods:
- Formation of multidisciplinary sprint teams to rapidly develop care improvement checklists.
- Focus areas included catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), central-line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), Clostridioides difficile (C. diff.), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and readmissions for heart failure and COPD.
- Checklists served as teaching tools and guidelines for case review to ensure consistent application of standard work.
Main Results:
- Significant reductions in standardized infection ratios (SIRs) were observed for CLABSIs, CAUTIs, C. diff., and MRSA over two years.
- Readmission reduction teams also achieved positive results by adhering to checklists and conducting case reviews.
- Specific SIR reductions: CLABSI from 1.141 to 0.687, CAUTI from 1.391 to 0.720, C. diff. from 0.422 to 0.260, and MRSA from 0.537 to 0.245 (Year 2).
Conclusions:
- Multidisciplinary sprint teams can drive rapid, safe, and effective change in healthcare settings.
- Evidence-based checklists developed by sprint teams are valuable for standardizing processes and improving outcomes in infection control and readmission prevention.
- This approach offers a scalable model for enhancing inpatient care quality and patient safety.
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