QI from the Front Lines
Craven County Health Department Utilizes Quality Improvement Project to Further Maternity Clinic Flow
February 10, 2010
The Craven County Health Department is using quality improvement (QI) methods and tools to improve the flow of patients they see in their maternity clinic. As one of the four local health departments that participated in pilot testing the Area Health Education Center’s (AHEC) QI 101 course, Craven County is utilizing the skills they learned to improve the services they provide to their clients.
The Craven County QI team's aim was to improve the access and efficiency of new maternity visits, while at the same time increasing patient satisfaction.
 Craven County QI Team: Front, left to right: Alisa Hess, Maria Sutton. Back, left to right: Marisa Byer, Jennifer Blackmon, Sandra Cox |
The team conducted observations of the clinic flow and identified bottleneck areas and began working to eliminate unnecessary delays in the maternity clinic. They are implementing holding maternity clinic several days throughout the week instead of just on one day. Additionally, they intend to change the structure of the maternity visits so that the initial visit will be broken into two visits. An added benefit of the project has been restructuring and reorganizing their registration and check-out process such that it is now more streamlined. The QI team will use various measures to gauge their improvements. They will continue to track maternity care visit cycle time, wait times for maternity appointments, and patient satisfaction rates.
When asked to describe their experience using three words, the team said that it was challenging, educational and required teamwork. They thought it was challenging because it required a lot of deliberation on what their project should focus on and how to go about starting it. It was also essential that everyone worked as a team to learn the new material together and gain knowledge of how to apply the methods and tools in their health department.
Some of the team's biggest accomplishments included getting staff buy-in and really understanding how to apply QI in various aspects of their health department. The team is currently working on incorporating a QI team within the maternity clinic itself. One current QI team member will serve as a guide to help direct the new team and answer questions along the way.
The Craven County QI team is enthusiastic to continue their project and collect data on their progress.
"I would encourage other QI teams to keep the momentum," said Maria Sutton, Quality Assurance Specialist and QI Team Lead for the Craven County Health Department. "It is important to have an individual on your team to help keep everyone on track."
When asked for other words of wisdom for health departments participating in upcoming QI 101 courses, team members were eager to give advice. They suggested that other teams keep their senior leaders involved by reporting out progress at staff meetings, through emails, or face-to-face meetings. They also stressed the value of including people who are involved in the process as a member of the QI team.
Jennifer Blackmon, RN PHN II, Family Planning/BCCCP Local Expert for the Craven County Health Department, said "it's important to start with something small that leads to a big outcome, that way people can see an immediate result."