Quality

This topic page provides a brief overview of the Center for Rural Health’s activities relating to Quality. This page contains a list of projects, key staff, and information pulled from the publications, presentations, events, news, and maps section of the CRH web site.

Projects

• Building Research Infrastructure and Capacity -- The Building Research Infrastructure and Capacity (BRIC) program provides funding to support the development of health services research.
• Implementing a Project of Patient Safety in Small Rural Hospitals -- This project is designed to create a model process for implementing a medication safety program in small rural hospitals.
• North Dakota Nursing Needs Study -- The North Dakota Nursing Needs Study is a comprehensive, ten-year project that tracks supply and demand of nursing in North Dakota.
• Nursing Workforce Impact -- Examines the impact of nurse staffing and nurse work environment on hospital performance improvement in the CMS/Premier Inc. Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration (HQID) project.
• State Office of Rural Health -- A federal-state partnership to help rural communities build their health care services through public and private partnerships and initiatives in rural health development.
• Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center -- Undertakes national projects focusing on quality of rural health care and other important rural health issues.

Staff

• Knudson, Alana
• Ward, Jody

Presentations

• The Effect of Rural Hospital Transfers on Mortality of Medicare Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction
  Presented by Muus, K, Knudson, A, Klug, M.G., & Beattie, R. on Mar 27, 2008 at the Frank Low Research Day, UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, ND.
• Performance Measurement and Quality Improvement for Health Professions
  Presented by Wakefield, M. on Feb 26, 2008 at the Bureau of Health Professions All Programs Meeting, Washington, DC.
• Creating a High Performance Health System
  Presented by Wakefield, M. on Oct 9, 2007 at the North Dakota Health Care Review, Inc. Quality Forum, Fargo, ND.
• To Map or Not To Map?
  Presented by Beattie, S. & Knudson, A. on Mar 20, 2007 at the 2007 Dakota Conference on Rural and Public Health, Mandan, ND.
• Implementing Best Practice Acts
  Presented by Spike, C. on Oct 11, 2006 at the Toolbox of Solutions for Rural Challenges, Fargo, ND.
• Root Cause Analysis: A Tool for Improvement
  Presented by Beattie, S. & Ranstrom, B. on Oct 11, 2006 at the Toolbox of Solutions for Rural Challenges, Fargo, ND.
• Implementing a Program of Patient Safety in Small Rural Hospitals
  Presented by Knurdson, A., Beattie, S., & Miller, M. on Jul 1, 2006 at the site visits for the 10 participating hospital staff, in Bowman, Harvey, Hettinger, Hillsboro, Mayville, McVille, Park River, Rolla, Rugby, and Watford City, ND.
• Keeping Patients Safe: Focus on Team Communication
  Presented by Wakefield, M.K. & Christianson, C. on Apr 28, 2005 at the Advancing Nursing Practice Nursing Symposium, Fargo, ND.
• Quality Through Collaboration: The Future of Rural Health
  Presented by Wakefield, M.K. on Jan 1, 2005 at the national level to various audiences, Washington, DC.

Publications

• Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century, Institute of Medicine Committee on Quality of Healthcare in America, National Academy of Science, Washington, DC, March, 2001
  Crossing the Quality Chasm makes an urgent call for fundamental change to close the quality gap. This book recommends a sweeping redesign of the American health care system and provides overarching principles for specific direction for policymakers, health care leaders, clinicians, regulators, purchasers, and others.
• A Framework and Action Agenda for Quality Improvement in Rural Health Care, Calico, F.W., Dillard, C.D., Moscovice, I., & Wakefield, M.K., The Journal of Rural Health, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 226-232,, 2003
  
• Health Care Quality: The Rural Context, The National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services, April, 2003
  A Report to the Secretary, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.
• Pharmacist Staffing and the Use of Technology in Small Rural Hospitals: Implications for Medication Safety, Casey, M., Moscovice, I., & Davidson, G., December, 2005
  Reports the results of a national study that assessed the capacity of rural hospitals to implement medication safety practices, with particular focus on pharmacist staffing and the availability of technology.
• Quality Through Collaboration: The Future of Rural Health, Committee on the Future of Rural Health Care, Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, Academies Press, Washington, DC, November, 2004
  
• A Rural Healthcare Quality Agenda, Wakefield, M.K., Journal for Healthcare Quality, Vol. 28, No. 5, pp. 2, 57,, 2006
  
• The Importance of Safety and Quality in Rural America, Burstin, H. & Wakefield, M., The Journal of Rural Health, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 301-303,, 2004
  
• Translating Research Into Practice: Voluntary Reporting of Medication Errors in Critical Access Hospitals, Jones, K.J., Cochran, G., Hicks, R.W., & Mueller, K.J., Journal of Rural Health, 20(4):335-43, 2004
  Describes the implementation of and initial findings from a voluntary medication error reporting program developed by the Nebraska Center for Rural Health Research to overcome these barriers in six Nebraska critical access hospitals.

Maps

• Center for Rural Health Activities in North Dakota, 2003-2007 -- Displays the location of the Center for Rural Health's activites, from 2003 - 2007, in North Dakota.