Know This to Be a Great Hospital Quality Medical Director – 133

And Prep for Your Interview

This week, John describes what a great hospital quality medical director needs to know to succeed. By understanding and implementing these concepts, the medical director will be able to lead a strong QI program.

A hospital's quality improvement program is designed to ensure that medical care is undeniably effective, evidence-based, timely and error-free. The field has exploded over the past 30 years, with an increasing emphasis on measuring and reporting outcomes of care.

Though it’s unlikely anyone is building a quality program from scratch, the information presented in this episode is useful for anyone from a part-time hospital quality medical director to a full-time chief quality officer. It will help you to improve your hospital's quality and safety program. And it may help you prepare for an interview for a medical director or chief quality officer position.

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Culture and Credentialing

The foundation of a great hospital quality program is a culture that values quality and safety. The mission of the organization must include a commitment to patient care that is based on superior quality and patient safety. It’s vital that the culture values teamwork and effective communication.

The underpinning of any good program is to start with a culture of quality and safety.

Measurement

The ability to measure outcomes is the cornerstone of a quality improvement and patient safety program. The tools used to measure outcomes must use a risk-adjustment methodology in which physicians have confidence.

There are numerous systems  available to extract the data needed to provide clinical quality and safety reporting. Becoming an expert in the measurement tools will make you an invaluable asset to your organization.

Leadership and Structure

Leadership of the QI and PS program is also extremely important. Each hospital must have a knowledgeable clinical expert to lead the department or division. Physicians are best able to understand the impact of quality on the care of our patients. We can help by serving on and leading committees, and by serving as hospital quality medical director or chief medical officer.

Implementation of a great QI program depends on an organizational structure that includes a mastery of QI concepts at each level, from CQO to Pharmacy Director, Quality Improvement Director and Health Information Management Director, to Quality Nurses, Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists, Infection Preventionists,  and Utilization Management Advisors.