These resources focus on quality improvement related to patient safety and inpatient care, including the current core Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP) measures under this domain.
or more information about the reporting requirements for these measures, see Data Reporting and Use.
Antibiotic Stewardship Implementation and Improvement Resources
This document summarizes core elements of successful hospital antibiotic stewardship programs (ASP). It complements existing guidelines on ASPs from organizations including the Infectious Diseases Society of America in conjunction with the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, American Society of Health System Pharmacists and The Joint Commission.
This document provides guidance on practical strategies to implement antibiotic stewardship programs in small and critical access hospitals (CAH). It was developed as a collaboration between the CDC, the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), and the Pew Charitable Trusts. The suggestions provided here are based on discussions with staff in small hospitals and CAHs, several of which have implemented all of the CDC Core Elements described within this document.
This resource shares implementation and enhancement strategies for antibiotic stewardship, collected from high performing CAHs across the U.S. during a series of focus group interviews conducted in Spring 2019.
This workbook provides small hospitals with guidance and tools, including a framework and strategic plan for implementing a feasible, small-scale stewardship program tailored to its own unique characteristics.
This toolkit contains hospital and health system resources, including a readiness assessment tool, the starting point in developing or enhancing a successful ASP. It also contains clinician and patient resources.
This report provides an overview of antibiotic use in U.S. health care settings and what health care providers, patients, insurers and others can do to support appropriate antibiotic use to prevent antibiotic resistance.
Immunization Improvement Resources
This resource contains information about the influenza vaccination for health care workers including why they should be vaccinated, statistics and facts, who should and shouldn't be vaccinated, and much more.
Influenza Vaccination Information for Health Care Workers <needs new link>
Healthcare-Associated Infections Improvement Strategies
The Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program (CUSP) toolkit from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) includes training tools to make care safer by improving the foundation of how physicians, nurses, and other clinical team members work together. It builds the capacity to address safety issues by combining clinical best practices and the science of safety.
This toolkit from AHRQ assists hospital staff and leadership in developing an effective antimicrobial stewardship program with the potential to reduce Clostridium difficile infection (C. difficile).
This enhanced protocol is based on materials successfully used in the REDUCE MRSA Trial (Randomized Evaluation of Decolonization vs. Universal Clearance to Eliminate Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which found that universal decolonization was the most effective intervention. Universal decolonization led to a 37 percent reduction in MRSA clinical cultures and a 44 percent reduction in all-cause bloodstream infections. This protocol will provide you with instructions for implementing universal decolonization in adult intensive care units (ICUs).
Medication Safety Resources
This tool offers hospitals, long-term care facilities and outpatient facilities a unique opportunity to assess the safety of systems and practices associated with up to 11 categories of high-alert medications. Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) defines high-alert medications as those drugs that bear a heightened risk of causing significant patient harm when used in error. Not all the targeted high-alert medications may be used in every inpatient or outpatient facility; thus, each facility can choose one or more of these high-alert medications upon which to focus its assessment.
Patient Safety Culture Resources
The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture examines patient safety culture from a hospital staff perspective and allows hospitals to assess their safety culture and track changes over time. Hospitals that administer the patient safety culture survey can voluntarily submit their data to the Comparative Database, a resource for hospitals wishing to compare their survey results to similar types of hospitals.
This brief identifies and assesses evidence-based patient safety and quality improvement interventions appropriate for use by state Flex Programs and CAHs, and discusses the use of patient safety culture surveys as a means to promote organizational learning and build a culture of safety.
The Patient Safety Network (PSNet) is a national web-based resource that features the latest news and essential resources on patient safety. The site offers weekly updates of patient safety literature, news, tools and a vast set of carefully annotated links to important research and other information on patient safety.
Falls Prevention Strategies Resources
This toolkit from AHRQ focuses on overcoming the challenges associated with developing, implementing, and sustaining a fall prevention program. The toolkit features an implementation guide for the team that is putting the new prevention strategies into practice and also has links to tools and resources.
Other Resources
This guide from AHRQ focuses on how hospitals can better identify, report, monitor, and prevent medical errors in patients with limited English proficiency.
This toolkit from the AHRQ includes case scenarios, graphics, templates, and simulation flows to help the quality and safety of managing sepsis for rural clinicians. The project and tools within this toolkit are specifically for using telehealth in rural EDs.
