Quality Improvement and Safety (QI-S) Committee Update

Our PCICS Quality Improvement and Safety (QI-S) Committee is looking forward to another productive year! Our committee is excited to welcome four new members, including Kim DiMaria, CPNP-AC (Children’s Hospital Colorado), Candace Mannarino, MD (Lurie Children’s Hospital), Allison Reynolds, DNP, CPNP-PC (Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital) and Jennifer Kramer, MD (LeBonheur Children’s Hospital).  We are looking forward to their fresh perspectives and future contributions to the Committee! Melina Handley, DNP, completed her role as Co-Chair at the 2021 annual meeting, and Melissa Winder, CPNP-AC, joined me (Dana) as Co-Chair, which we are all looking forward to.

Our QI-S Committee has three, active sub-committees, including Education (led by Rambod Amirnovin, MD), Resource and Outreach (led by Marissa Smith-Parrish, MD) and Research and Development (led by Marissa Brunetti, MD). The Education sub-committee is completing work developing valuable QI resources that will be made available in the Learning Management System (LMS). These resources will include quality content, curriculum and roadmaps aimed at helping to formulate, develop and execute QI projects. We hope these resources will prove to be very valuable for our members, and an announcement will be made closer to when they are available.

Our Research and Development team recently submitted a survey in the March Call for Surveys to understand and discern different institution’s quality processes and practices. We believe this will lend itself to interesting data collection and may ultimately improve best practices. Thank you, in advance, for your participation if/and when the survey goes out!

Last, but certainly not least, our Resource and Outreach team has partnered with our Education team and Amy Florez, DNP to develop a Quality Improvement Learning and Thinktank (QILT) session. Planning meetings are underway for the session, which will highlight novel, quality initiatives at different institutions, with an opportunity for brainstorming, guidance, and mentorship. If you are in the process of starting a new QI project, keep an eye out for an opportunity to participate in this exciting new venture.

Our QI-S Committee is always open to new ideas and suggestions, so please feel free to contact me or Melissa with anything. We hope everyone is having a great start to 2022!