Projects and Programs
Concluded Projects
- Children's Emergency Care Project
- Clean Hands Save Lives
- NSW Chronic Care Collaborative
- National Medication Safety Breakthrough Collaborative
- Patient Flow and Safety Collaborative
- Safer Systems Saving Lives
- Towards a Safer Culture Project (Phase one)
Current Projects
Information regarding the Clinical Excellence Commission's current projects and projects is also available »
Concluded Projects
A number of Clinical Excellence Commission projects are now finished. These projects include the Clean Hands Save Lives campaign, the Chronic Care Collaborative, the National Medication Safety Breakthrough Collaborative, the Patient Flow and Safety Collaborative and phase one of the Towards a Safer Culture Project.
Children's Emergency Care Project
The Children's Emergency Care Project has been a pilot project, focusing on the development of a model for guideline implementation, through the integration of clinical practice improvement methodologies and evidence based practice. Fifty-three pilot sites (one third of all emergency departments in NSW, two thirds from rural and regional areas) participated in the project, which operated from March 2004 to September 2006. The project aimed to make health care safer and more consistent for children and their families presenting to emergency departments in NSW. The guidelines were developed by the NSW Department of Health and the three Child Health Networks who were key partners in the CEC project.
A toolkit detailing implementation strategies and providing practical tools to support implementation of the guidelines to other emergency departments (non pilot sites) in NSW has been published and distributed. Further copies are available from the CEC upon request.
Formal external evaluation of the project has demonstrated significant outcomes, including:
- Reduced admission rates for children with gastroenteritis
- Reduced re-presentation to hospital for children with gastroenteritis and asthma
- Staff report increased confidence in caring for children
- Staff believe care of children has been improved through the increased awareness and use of the guidelines
An e-learning package has also been developed as part of the project. This is seen as a key initiative to facilitate spread and promote sustainability of the CECP project gains, by promoting utilisation of the guidelines by junior medical officers, locum medical officers and nurses working in NSW Health emergency departments.
The Children's Emergency Care Project was conducted in New South Wales between October 2003 and July 2006.
Download The Children's Emergency Care Project final report »
The NSW Chronic Care Collaborative
The NSW Chronic Care Collaborative focussed on improving diagnosis and management of people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and/or heart failure. One of the aims of the collaborative was to increase the number of people who had a clearly defined set of diagnostic and management interventions. Interventions are a change made to a process or activity that affects the way clinical or administrative work is done. The project involved 22 multidisciplinary teams representing 18 Area Health Services across NSW, who participated in the project between February and November 2004. An independent evaluation conducted in April 2005 demonstrated that the collaborative was successful in improving the skills of team members to introduce clinical practice improvements and consequently improved the care of people with COPD and heart failure.
More information:
National Medication Safety Breakthrough Collaborative
The overall aim of the National Medication Safety Breakthrough Collaborative (NMSBC) was to reduce harm caused by medication use by 50 per cent in participating organisations over the course of the collaborative. In total, 100 health service teams from around Australia (47 in Wave 1 and 53 in Wave 2) participated in the NMSBC. The teams represented metropolitan, regional and rural areas, the public and private sectors, and both large and small facilities. This collaborative developed a national network and system to sustain and transfer the improvements in medication safety to other health services across Australia following the completion of the project.
The Institute for Clinical Excellence (ICE) participated in the National Medication Safety Breakthrough Collaborative (NMSBC) as the key contact point and support in NSW. ICE contributed to the development of project materials as a member of the Steering Committee, and employed a state-based Collaborative Coordinator to liaise with state-based participating teams through conference calls, site visits, Orientation / Pre work Sessions, Learning Sessions and through web based interactions. ICE and later the Clinical Excellence Commission assisted with state-wide communication and at a local level built on existing links to ensure alignment between state-based medication safety initiatives and the NMSBC.
More information:
- National Medication Safety Breakthrough Collaborative website
- Publications: Project chronicle, team showcases, improvement toolkits
The Patient Flow and Safety Collaborative
The Patient Flow and Safety Collaborative aimed to improve access to acute hospitals for patients throughout NSW and reduce the rates of significant adverse events through fostering a safety culture. In total 36 teams from hospitals around NSW worked collaboratively over a 12-month period (March 2003 to March 2004) to improve processes of care for emergency and elective surgical patients and complex medical patients.This project wrapped up in March 2004 however post collaborative work was conducted up until around March 2005, including production of a toolkit and several specialised master classes.
Resources:
- Improving Patient Access to Acute Care Services Toolkit
This Toolkit is designed to be an aid to health professionals to improve patient access to acute services.
Awards:
- This project was a highly commended finalist in the 2004 Baxter NSW Health Awards.
'Safer Systems - Saving Lives'
'Safer Systems * Saving Lives' is a national project initiated by the Australian Council (now Commission) for Safety and Quality in Health Care. The aim of the 'Safer Systems * Savings Lives' project is to implement six key interventions for which there is clear evidence of impact on improvement in health outcomes when applied consistently and comprehensively. The 'Safer Systems * Saving Lives' project is based on the 100,000 Lives (or 100K Lives) Campaign, an initiative by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in the USA. The IHI care bundles and measures have been adapted to suit the Australian context with the assistance of expert clinician panels. Through the implementation of the six interventions the 100K Lives campaign aimed to avoid 100,000 deaths in the USA by June 2006, and every year thereafter. By linking to this program it gives Australia the opportunity to join an international collaborative to improve health outcomes for patients in Australian hospitals using international evidence of what works in these areas. Launched in February 2006, there are 10 NSW teams from both regional and metropolitan sites participating in the 'Safer Systems * Saving Lives' project. This project concludes in February 2007.
Phase one of the Towards a Safer Culture Project
Launched in 2000, Towards a Safer Culture Program (TASC) is an ongoing project involving 30 hospitals.TASC is a project that seeks to improve the acute management of patients who present with chest pain or stroke. The aim of the project is to ensure that all patients with these two conditions in NSW receive the best emergency treatment and secondary prevention. In phase one (Nov 2000 to Nov 2002) of the Towards a Safer Culture Project four hospitals participated: in NSW, John Hunter and Nepean Hospital; in Queensland, Townsville Hospital; and in Victoria, Frankston Hospital.
The CEC became involved with this project in phase two (the current phase). A key project strategy is to empower clinicians to adopt leadership roles in initiating practice improvement within their own culture. To support this, the TASC project is promoting evidence based clinical pathways and a measurement system to promote clinical practice improvement. This means patients will be assessed, diagnosed and treated according to the best available evidence.
The project has been recognised with two awards:
- Phase two of this project received the Premiers' Award for Excellence in 2005.
