QIO News Posts
Hand Hygiene: Simple and Effective
Practicing hand hygiene is a simple yet effective way to prevent infections. Cleaning your hands can prevent the spread of germs, including those that are resistant to antibiotics and are becoming difficult, if not impossible, to treat. On average, healthcare...
New CDC Guide Links Pharmacists and Physicians as Partners to Improve Health
The Creating Community-Clinical Linkages Between Community Pharmacists and Physicians Guide offers examples of existing community-clinical linkages—which refer to the connections between community, healthcare providers and settings where primary care is provided to...
Celebrating YOU…the Healthcare Professional
"One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others". - Lewis Caroll The Great Plains Quality Innovation Network team would like to celebrate the incredible people that you are, your incredible coworkers and the places...
CDC Launches Online Training Modules for Safer Opioid Prescribing Practice
An Online Training Series for Healthcare Providers The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) recently launched an online training course focused on opioid prescription practices. The series features eight modules, of which one has been released thus far....
Kearny County Hospital’s Innovation Drives Community Health Change
People living in the unhealthiest counties of Kansas are dying too early and at more than twice the rate of those in the healthiest counties. Kearny County Hospital, located in Lakin, Kansas, 50 miles from Colorado, is one of the lead organizations for the...
Communication Tips to Motivate Diabetes Management
Most people struggle with making and breaking habits. Explaining the benefits of a change is the first step. Determining which intrinsic motivation will lead to a patient’s success is much more difficult. Evidence shows a provider recommendation is the most...
What Would Happen If Healthcare in Your State Improved?
This week The Commonwealth Fund released its updated State-by-State Interactive Tool that illustrates the gains states could make by performing at the level of leading states on 40 measures of healthcare access, quality, and outcomes. According to The Commonwealth...
Opioid Use Reported Soaring Among Middle Aged and Older Adults
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports Americans age 45 to 64 accounted for about 44% of deaths from overdoses in 2013 and 2014. The proportion of adults 50 and older seeking treatment for opioid addiction has increased dramatically in recent...
CDC Releases General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization
On April 20, 2017, CDC released the General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization. (The 2017 version replaces the 2011 version). According to ACIP Executive Secretary Amanda Cohn, MD, “The General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization is a living document and...
Rural Healthcare Quality Improvement Resource Guide Available
If you are new to healthcare quality improvement, you might feel overwhelmed navigating and making sense of all of the learning resources, national quality improvement entities and reporting programs. This collection of resources points quality healthcare...