Process Improvement

Texas EMS Conference – Model for Improvement

Posted by on November 22, 2011 at 7:00 am

The Live Music Capitol of the World – Austin, Texas – has a different buzz downtown today. The convention center is filled with Texas’ volunteer and career emergency medical services caregivers. Held annually, the Texas EMS Conference rivals many national EMS conference events and draws industry leading faculty from across the country and caregivers from [...]

Client Profile – American Medical Response

Posted by on November 21, 2011 at 8:08 pm

American Medical Responses (AMR) is the largest private ambulance service in North America. Responding to more than 8,600 requests for service per day and with a staff of 17,000, AMR serves 2,100 communities in 38 states. It is also one of the first organizations Dr. Williams worked with as a paramedic back in Springfield, MA. [...]

ESO Wave 2011 – Data for Learning and Improvement

Posted by on November 17, 2011 at 7:58 pm

More than a 100 people convened in Austin, TX at the Austin Convention Center for Wave 2011. Sponsored by ESO Solutions, a technology company developing solutions for emergency medical services organizations, Wave 2011 is a 2-day conference produced for its clients. It brings industry leaders and ESO’s deep pool of talented staff together to provide [...]

Small Tests, Collaborative Learning, & Mr. Potato Head

Posted by on October 30, 2011 at 1:39 pm

For the last few weeks, I have been testing an experiential exercise to quickly train large groups to use rapid cycle, small tests of change (i.e., PDSA cycles). The exercise involves teams learning through testing how to assemble a toy Mr. Potato Head. I modified the exercise after working with with Dr. Eric Dickson on the [...]

Facts of Life – Unknown Origin

Posted by on August 17, 2011 at 1:07 pm

This week, I have been reading a great book by my colleague Robert Lloyd, PhD, Executive Director of Performance Improvement at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Published in 2004, Quality Health Care: Developing and Using Indicators is a great resource for learning about process improvement in health care. Last night, as I finished a chapter (Ch.3), I [...]