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center for learning and innovation
LAKE SUCCESS — The
Center for Learning and
Innovation (CLI) has established
a Quality Academy to
further improve performance
in healthcare delivery at North
Shore-LIJ facilities. The initiative
builds on more than a
decade of workforce development
programs to improve
patient safety and quality care
throughout the North Shore-
LIJ Health System.
The Quality Academy is
grounded in staff members’
need to keep pace with rapid
changes in the healthcare field.
At the same time, the science
of improvement in healthcare
has gotten more sophisticated
and is constantly evolving.
The academy addresses these
challenges with a comprehensive,
multitiered program to
advance the knowledge base of
the workforce to further enable
staff members at every level to
anticipate, recognize and solve
problems to improve performance
and to provide “perfect”
care to patients and families.
“The Quality Academy
will allow the health system to
combine and standardize all
quality improvement education
and training programs
under one roof,” said Jeremy
Boal, MD, senior vice president
and chief medical officer
at North Shore-LIJ. “This
78 Summer 2012
allows us to formalize performance
improvement initiatives,
using the same measurement
tools and metrics across
the board in order to replicate
high-quality outcomes in our
patient care processes.” Dr.
Boal added that front-line staff
members are often in the best
position to understand and
improve their work environments
to optimize patient care
and outcomes.
“Education programs
at the academy will increase
awareness about quality issues
and further empower all
employees to identify problems
and take an active role in quality
improvement, regardless of
job title,” said Alan Cooper,
PhD, vice president of learning
and innovation at North Shore-
LIJ. For example, if nurses
notice a delay in responding to
patient call bells, they are in the
best position to recognize ways
to increase response time and
enhance patient satisfaction.
Through proper education in
improvement sciences, they can
study the problem and engineer
ways to improve workflow.
“This not only creates a safer
environment for patients, but
also has the benefit of creating a
more efficient workplace,” said
Dr. Cooper.
At the academy, quality
improvement training and
education are being developed
collaboratively with health
system departments and business
units, which will provide
educational opportunities for
all North Shore-LIJ staff. For
example, the Quality Academy
will incorporate a section on
quality improvement in Beginnings,
the program geared toward
new employees, and reach
out to train other staff members.
The Quality Academy is
New Quality Academy Focuses
on Improving Performance
By Betty Olt
also developing an online video
introduction to the importance
of everyone’s role in improving
performance throughout the
health system.
Ultimately, programming
will target all managers, directors
and senior staff members;
all chiefs, chairs and medical
directors; all staff members
hired in quality roles; and the
highest level, or expert level,
which will be designated for
staff including quality professionals,
administrators, managers,
physicians and other
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clinicians involved in multidepartmental,
facility-wide or
system-wide improvements.
Learning will incorporate
in-class training and online
modules with group exercises.
Already, all health system associate
executive directors have
attended the Quality Academy’s
first course, “Quality,
Safety and Improvement Sciences,”
which is part of CLI’s
new leadership development
program, ALEAD – Applied
Leadership Effectiveness and
Development.
Fiona Levy, chief quality
officer for the Cohen Children’s
Medical Center of New
York, leads and facilitates the
Quality Academy development
team. In addition to Drs. Boal,
Cooper and Levy, the team
includes Yosef Dlugacz, PhD,
senior vice president and chief
of clinical quality, education
and research at the Krasnoff
Quality Management Institute;
Mark Jarrett, MD, vice president
and health system chief
quality officer; Marc Napp,
MD, vice president of medical
affairs; Karen Nelson, RN,
vice president, clinical excellence
and quality; and Elaine
Smith, EdD, RN, vice president
for nursing education.
For more details about the
Quality Academy, call CLI at
(516) 396-6150.
Inspiration is just a click away.The North Shore-LIJ Foundation
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com/NorthShoreLIJFoundation and on Twitter at Twitter.com/nslijfoundation.