QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
Improving Outcomes Through Collaboration and Quality Improvement
Transforming health care for individuals with rare conditions—such as those with single ventricle heart defects is challenging within any health system. The rarity of these conditions means individual care centers often care for only a small number of patients, limiting opportunities for research and quality improvement (QI).
Collaborative networks such as SV-ONE address these challenges by uniting multiple care centers to pool knowledge, share resources, and apply QI methods at scale. These partnerships enable participating centers to overcome barriers related to small sample sizes and accelerate improvements in care and outcomes.
SV-ONE uses quality improvement science, including the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) Collaborative Model for Achieving Breakthrough Improvement and the Model for Improvement, to redesign care systems and improve outcomes for children and adults with single ventricle heart defects.
Building Capacity and Driving Impact
To achieve their mission, SV-ONE collaborates with care centers in the following ways:
1. Establishing a Best-Practices Infrastructure
The network provide a robust infrastructure of care best practices that centers can adopt quickly, reducing the need to develop independent QI systems.
2. Providing QI Education and Coaching
QI leaders offer training and personalized coaching on improvement frameworks and implementation methods—both within individual centers and across the broader network.
3. Patient and Family Collaboration and Co-Production
Patients and families participate in our governance structures, enhancing leadership teams, workgroups, and committees with their unique perspective. They also collaborate with clinicians and researchers to develop educational materials, toolkits, and other resources.
4. Fostering Cross-Center Collaboration
With an "all teach, all learn" philosophy, the network hosts semi-annual learning sessions, facilitate cross-site projects, and encourage knowledge exchange to improve specific health outcomes.
5. Managing Data Securely
A secure, HIPAA-compliant data system enables web-based data entry, storage, reporting, and analysis, providing the foundation for data-driven improvements.
6. Producing and Sharing Network Resources
Through collaboration and QI work, the network develop practical tools and resources such as change packages, toolkits, and other interventions—which are shared across centers via their websites.
Measuring Progress
Progress and success are communicated through shared tools like SV-ONE’s annual Leader Newsletter and infographics which highlight measurable outcomes and ongoing improvements, as well as during semi-annual Learning Sessions. Current data is also accessible through our dashboards and reporting system, where care centers can access their progress and network-level progress at any time.
Tools and Resources
MODEL FOR IMPROVEMENT
BREAKTHROUGH SERIES
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ARTICLES