Quality Improvement

Our division leads quality improvement projects to promote earlier access to palliative care for patients with stroke, heart failure, and cancer. We have designed and implemented better systems of documentation of serious illness conversations across settings of care. In partnership with Ariadne Labs, we train our colleagues in effective serious illness conversations, identifying high-risk patients, and optimizing workflows to promote earlier, better, and more conversations with patients about their values and priorities.  

Highlights of our Work

We developed a Best Practice Advisory (BPA) alert in Epic to trigger goals-of-care conversations for patients with catastrophic strokes and promote integration of palliative care in neurocritical care. Learn more.

During the peak of the COVID pandemic, we utilized our standardized and retrievable note template to evaluate the timing and content of goals-of-care conversations between all providers and hospitalized patients and their families. Learn more.

We increased access to early palliative care for hospitalized cancer patients through nurse-led assessments of unmet palliative care needs and provider nudges for referrals. Learn more by visiting the links below.

Proactive Screening of Cancer Inpatients for Palliative Care (QI829)
Enhancing Quality of Serious Illness Conversations: Is Communication Skills Training a Must?

The Division of Palliative Care is a member of the Palliative Care Quality Collaborative, a national registry which informs our quality and research collaborations with multiple departments and helps us plan, measure, and analyze program growth, especially in community settings. Learn more.