Research

As the healthcare industry has adapted to the ever-updating goals of federal and state governments, accrediting organizations, and patients to improve the quality of care, The Academy has been adapting as well with the goal of ensuring that our research on quality healthcare remains pertinent, timely, and actionable. With that, we are pleased to unveil our realigned research framework that stands on the three pillars outlined below. This 2016 research overview has been developed with the intent of offering insight into that framework and those topics of highest priority through care management, delivery, and experience. As a member-based organization, our research and associated framework is driven by the community. Here are some examples of key research topics for The Academy in 2016:

Population & Disease Management
Across all infections and infection-related complications discussed by the membership community, sepsis represents a significant majority share of interest and concern, indicating the need for further research throughout 2016. Driven by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services measures and a high mortality rate, effectively preventing sepsis can have dramatic effects on care quality.

Clostridium difficile poses challenges in prevention both before infection occurs and after, due to its contagious nature and the difficulty of eliminating contamination. Managing staff and room cleanliness, patient education, and antibiotics can all contribute to the effort.

Hospitals and health systems are also being tasked with managing a diverse population of patients that may be best described as “underserved.” The tactics of organizations familiar with these types of patients may soon be crucial for other hospitals and health systems.

At times included in the underserved population, geriatric patients offer unique challenges to providers, including a growing share of the nation’s overall population. With higher rates of chronic disease, readmissions, and long term care needs, establishing a sound foundation for geriatric care now may offer many dividends over the years ahead as organizations better account for the cost of quality improvement efforts.

Patient Care Delivery
The constant goal of achieving true value in quality healthcare often requires the evaluation of where a staff member or process has gone awry through root cause analysis or peer review. Utilizing such methods effectively can drive improvements in culture, experience, and the care processes themselves.

Along with consistent review, a useful element of driving greater quality improvement in hospitals and health systems can be the implementation of a quality methodology. Such a methodology can offer a number of insights into efficient care practices.

Due to its frequency, medication administration presents challenges for many organizations. The delicacy required of this process—and the potentially steep consequences of mistakes—requires meticulous processes and dedicated staff.

Many organizations, particularly those with unique locations or populations, are looking to partner with organizations outside of the system. Whether independent nursing facilities, hotels, or others, opportunities for improvement exist with these arrangements.

Patient Care Experience
Regardless of the cause of care, it is likely that patient education will factor into the conversation at some point. Whether interacting with a single patient or with an entire community over health risks, hospitals and health systems today are being tasked with keeping patients up-to-date on what can be done to improve their health.

Another crucial element of every patient encounter, patient safety has become a movement around the nation with many organizations striving to achieve a “culture of safety.” Achieving safety goals and delivering quality healthcare can benefit both staff and patients.

Technology offers many opportunities for care improvement, but perhaps one of the most untapped at this time is the ability to quickly garner patient feedback. By engaging with patients through social media, some healthcare organizations have already begun to learn about patients’ experiences—the first step to driving further improvement.

Through the realignment of our research framework, The Academy is positioned to continue being the community’s source for objective, best practice research, implementation tools, and opportunities to network with peers. Please stay in touch with us as we dive into these topics and many others over the course of this year and beyond.