Health departments, research teams, and other QI partners can support systems in several ways:
QI partners can effectively work with healthcare systems by making connections to other partners and resources that will improve the QI project. This may mean connecting people in your professional network, like university research teams or the American Cancer Society, that share a focus on HPV vaccination. It may also mean connecting people in different parts of the healthcare system, like data analysts and QI coaches, that don’t ordinarily work together.
Establishing shared goals with the healthcare system is critical to forming a successful partnership. QI partners should determine how HPV vaccine QI fits with the health system’s current priorities. Next, partners can determine how their QI project will help further those priorities. This strategy will make HPV vaccination QI worth the system’s time and resources. Before the start of a new project, QI partners should work with system leaders to establish SMART HPV vaccine goals.
QI partners can get buy-in by giving health system leaders an incentive to focus on HPV vaccination projects. Show health system leaders how HPV vaccination fits in with other pediatric or adolescent QI goals. Illustrating how the QI project will save money, clinical time and improve patient outcomes will help make HPV vaccine QI worthwhile to the system. Supporting incentives for providers and staff will make change worthwhile to the people who will implement QI initiatives.
Many healthcare systems may want to improve their HPV vaccination rates. But, they lack some of the resources to make the project successful. When partners offer resources to help with QI projects it can strengthen the relationship with the system and build their capacity to improve. QI partners may be able to offer training resources, like the Announcement Approach Training or other educational materials. Other partners may have special expertise in implementing QI projects that would be valuable to healthcare systems.
IQIP consultations can be a particularly good match with health systems’ QI projects because they are designed as a yearlong process of collaboration between public health professionals and healthcare providers.
State and regional immunization programs may be able to offer data resources, like reports from their immunization information system or CDC sponsored Immunization Quality Improvement for Providers (IQIP) consultations. IQIP consultations can be a particularly good match with health systems’ QI projects because they are designed as a yearlong process of collaboration between public health professionals and healthcare providers. Consultations are intended to identify workable QI strategies to increase vaccination by improving immunization workflows.
“[S]o I think we are very receptive, particularly in not reinventing the wheel, if you will, because it just makes sense that if folks have an opportunity or a training or a program that fits we typically are willing to commit the resources and create an opportunity to improve our outcomes.”
Health system QI leader
This worksheet helps map who has a role in each step of the vaccination process so that you can see who should be involved in the QI process. You can also use it to determine what other resources might be needed.
Use this with clinics to choose QI strategies and structure your conversation.
