QualityTalks by CathyBalding: Recent Episodes
cathybalding
QualityTalks are interviews and podcasts for making quality make sense, and practical leadership for creating great care - from a range of perspectives. Listen, learn and enjoy!
We're up to the final third of my 'Ten Characteristics of Effective Quality Systems'. In this episode we take a look at the role of compliance in an effective quality system - and an ineffective one!
So many CG Frameworks. Which is the right one? If we put a different lens over this the answer becomes clearer. Choose the framework that answers these key questions!
There's so much clinical governance activity. But - much of it is weak and ineffective, despite good intent and hard work. Falling down the weak CG rabbit hole - and not even realising - is a classic trap. Here's how to tell if you're teetering on the edge of a big black CG abyss.
Why building a staff/consumer satisfaction bridge may just be our next big leap towards creating consistently high-quality care.
What I know for almost sure is...that managers are the most important quality tools - but how often do we think of them that way?
Which CG system has the biggest impact on care? and which quality 'movie' are you helping your organisation to make?
This year is my time to work through 'What I know for (almost) sure about quality and clinical governance, using my Ten characteristics of Effective Quality Systems' as a guide. in May we're up to 'An effective quality system 'Supports the People'. The first characteristic here is: 'Focuses the organisation on achieving high quality point of care and service interactions between consumers and staff as a strategic and operational priority.'
Does your quality meeting do this?
My newsletter on all things quality - QualityNews - has been telling the story of human services quality and clinical governance for over 10 years. In 2022 QNews focuses on 'what I know for (almost) sure - reflections from three decades of working in quality and clinical governance - following my 'Ten Characteristics of Effective Quality Systems.' And - QNews is also going audio! So if you prefer to listen than read - here it is...
And if you'd rather have QNews delivered to your inbox - subscribe here. You'll also get my 'Ten Characteristics Assessment Tool' to score the effectiveness of your quality system.
Enjoy! - and let me know what you think!
Over the COVID-19 crisis, I'm publishing a weekly bulletin - XQQQS Me! - to explore what we can learn from this fast-tracked world of high performance we find ourselves in - and how we can apply it to creating great care over the longer term. Two editions were especially popular -leadership and motivation - so I've dropped them into a podcast. The motivation edition identifies six characteristics of staying motivated in tough times I've observed during the COVID-19 response - and explores how we can apply them to lead great care every day.
covid19 #healthcare #leadership #humanservices #agedcare #leadershipdevelopment #qualitymanagement #clinicalgovernance
Over the COVID-19 crisis, I'm publishing a weekly bulletin - XQQQS Me! - to explore what we can learn from this fast-tracked world of high performance we find ourselves in - and how we can apply it to creating great care over the longer term.
Two editions were especially popular: leadership and motivation. This leadership edition identifies six characteristics of leadership in tough times I've observed during the COVID-19 response - and explores how we can apply them to lead great care every day.
In early 2019 Glenda Gorrie was looking forward to the next stage of her life, having 'retired' from full-time work at the end of 2018.
What she didn't expect was to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
In this two-part conversation, we roam around her encounters with the health system, observing the 'person-centred care' aspects through the lens of Glenda's long clinical and policy-making experience with improving healthcare safety and quality.
Part 2 touches on issues with connected - or disconnected - care and what happens when you don't play the role of the 'good' patient; and we question if patient advocates are the answer and whether or not Glenda considers herself a consumer. Finally, she distils what's really important: and it won't cost you a thing to implement!
Music credit: Fred Kinck-Petersen, sourced from the WavePad sound library.
In early 2019 Glenda Gorrie was looking forward to the next stage of her life, having 'retired' from full-time work at the end of 2018.
What she didn't expect was to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
In this two-part conversation, we roam around her experience of person-centred care through the lens of Glenda's long clinical and policy-making experience with improving healthcare safety and quality.
Part 1 describes Glenda's early encounters with her care and treatment 'wrapped in person-centredness' that didn't last quite as long as she'd hoped! We discuss how organisational structures and systems can be a barrier to person-centred care, and how it's not only clinicians we need to be person-centred. Lots of small tips and observations that add up to big and important messages about what's really important to the patient - and how you can find out more about what your consumers really want from your service.
Music credit: Fred Kinck-Petersen, sourced from the WavePad sound library.
To celebrate The Point of Care audiobook coming online, here I'm pleased to share Chapter 1 with you all.
The Point of Care teaches my roadmap to great care in a fictional tale about Carol Mathewson, the new CEO of Kinsley Valley Health Service, who's taken over the helm of an organisation that ranks last in the state for both consumer and staff satisfaction. She loves a challenge—but having just six months to get those results out of the basement is more of a challenge than she bargained for. Her Executive Team is divided, many staff are resistant to change and there are players inside and outside of the organisation willing her to fail.
The Point of Care integrates research and real-world experience from the fields of quality improvement, clinical governance, change, leadership and management to present a simple yet comprehensive approach to evolving an organisation from ordinary to extraordinary.
But the real fun is following Carol's trials and triumphs, many of which you'll recognise from your own experience. Can she do it? And if she can - can't you?
The Point of Care Audiobook is now available for purchase at the following friendly audiobook distributors:
Apple Books (Set Media Type to Audiobooks) Google Play Books Scribd Playster Nook Audiobooks eStories Audiobooks
Join the Cathys as we enjoy our tenth episode, including a special reading from Balding's new book The Point of Care - and musings on why we're not further ahead with the quality of care after all these years. Plus - tips on shaking up your role for more satisfaction and effectiveness!
To make a powerful case for change, you need to know the components of a high performing quality system, what it should be achieving, be able to demonstrate where your system sits in relation to that, and show the benefits for your consumers and organisation, to make a case for change. If that sounds exhausting! - and you'd like a simple way to do this - read on.
After having more conversations about this than I can count, I’ve distilled my research and experience about what it takes for a quality system to drive great care into a One Page Quality System Performance Assessment Tool (QPAT). If you don't have the tool, find it here.
This is something you and others in your organisation can complete in 5 minutes to make your case for change. It’s a simple way to get the influencers and decision-makers on the same page about where you are and where you’d like to go in 2019, and helps you determine the more specific shifts you need to make to really focus on point of care.
The tool gives a snapshot of the key results an effective, mature quality system should be achieving. It’s a tool for clarifying what a high performing quality system looks like and developing a shared understanding in your organisation about the core components of an effective quality system; as well as your strengths and gaps; and what you need to do to get closer to great care for every consumer.
If you could draw your progress since January 2018 towards great care for every consumer of your services on a map, what would it look like? What would I see? A deliberate road to a clear destination, over which significant distance has been travelled? A meandering series of side-trips? A few break-downs when you’ve been stuck in one spot for a while and took a while to get going again? Or are you pretty much bogged down in the same place now as you were at the start of the year?
I've distilled the lessons from my research and working with hundreds of health and human services to identify the starting point for change. In this Part 1 of 2 these short Qualityclass videos (or audios) on accelerating your progress in 2019, I’ll show you one shift you can make that will get more positive engagement with staff in quality and compliance.
If you want to be able to say you made new standards and compliance requirements work more positively for your organisation; to point to significant progress with care and service quality; to show increased staff engagement; and demonstrate growth in your own leadership and role satisfaction.
Commit to the right shift in the way you currently do things, and you’ll be on the road to achieving this.
No Harm Done is a new aspect of QualityTalks and is my podcast with Cathy Jones (ED Quality at Healthscope.) It's all about improving, exploring, understanding and getting on with healthcare safety and quality, and is designed to give you tips, ideas and guidance if you’re working in the area of quality & risk management. Includes segments on FAQs, Quality MythBusters, Too Long Didn't Read and Quality Hacks. This is Episode 3: 'Congratulations, you're a Quality Manager!'
Join the Ambulance Victoria Quality and Patient Experience Team as they explain the why, what and how of their strategic approach to creating Best Care for every ambulance patient, every time. What does it take to get everyone on the same page and wanting to provide a consistent standard of care in a state-wide organisation? AV is in the process of finding out! And check out their strategic plan overview, showing how their 'Patient Care Commitment' to Best Care is integral to what AV is all about.
In 2017 Maree Cameron PSM was awarded the Victorian Public Sevice Medal for her outstanding contribution to improving aged care. Her considerable experience and achievements in this area give her a fascinating perspective on what's important about aged care, how it can be improved and where to from here for creating high quality care and experiences for every resident.
After leaving the Department of Health and Human Services in 2017, Maree reflects on the impact of working in aged care on her career, considers the quality of care vs quality of life discussion, emphasises the importance of agreeing a universal definition of high quality aged care, and highlights the need for a national organisation to inform, support and drive safe and high quality care for every resident.
If you govern, lead, work in, have an interest in or a family connection with residential aged care - don't miss this interview!
Maree Cameron PSM received the Victorian Public Service Medal in 2017 for her significant contribution to improving residential aged care. (She and I discuss her thoughts on quality and safety in residential aged care in a separate interview.) Over a long career focused on improving quality of care and life for residents, she has amassed considerable knowledge about what this takes.
So does this knowledge help - or hinder - when you're the one receiving care? Maree has had multiple encounters with the acute care sector over the past few years as a patient, and kindly agreed to share her thoughts on being on the 'other side of the bed'. In this interview we discuss what patient-centred care means to an informed patient who knows what it 'should' be and how it is defined from the provider perspective; but is this really what patients need - or want?
Mel Wityk is the Nurse Unit Manager on a subacute ward at Western Health: a large multi campus teaching health service in Melbourne. Since 2013 Mel and her team, together with allied health and medical clinicians and ably supported and inspired by the WH wound consultant, Col Killmier, have been on a mission to achieve zero pressure injuries - and stay there. When I interviewed Mel the ward had gone 525 days pressure injury free.
How did they do it?
This QualityTalks started out exploring Mel's leadership role in preventing pressure injuries, but I soon realised that there's a lot more going on here. Over our discussion, Mel shows how she used every key change strategy in the book - without reading the book! - including: a clear and shared goal, a human connection, Start Where They Are, people support what they help to create, feelings drive action, leading by example, clear roles and expectations, smoothing the path, removing the old way, monitoring and learning, embedding change in the every day, celebrating wins and staying the course.
By the end of this QualityTalk it's clear that leading sustained change that makes life better for patients and staff is not something that takes years of study if you're clear about where you're going and where you're starting, and go on the journey together. And it helps if along the way you're prepared to listen, learn, practise a little genuine empathy for the needs of others - and have some fun!
And what happened after day 525? You'll have to listen to find out!
Julie Warnock is an organisational psychologist who develops leaders in many different sectors, including healthcare. Struck down by a sudden illness, Julie got to experience healthcare leadership first hand over four weeks and two campuses of the same health service. In this QualityTalks, Julie describes the leadership she experienced and reminds us about what's really important to patients.
Dr Michael Walsh has had an international career as a healthcare CEO in the public and private sectors - and as an expert in supporting safe, quality care. What does it take? What has he learned? What would he do differently if he were starting out again? Listen and learn as Michael shares his wisdom on key challenges, attitudes and actions required to be an effective leader of great patient care.
Jacque Phillips, CEO of Numurkah District Health Service tells us that leadership for safe, quality healthcare takes on a whole new dimension when water is lapping at the doors of your hospital. What's really important when leading a health service through a crisis? In 2012, Jacque's hospital was flooded; faster and more devastatingly than anyone had predicted. A town lost its hospital overnight - and patients and staff were at risk. This is Jacque's story of her leadership at the time of the crisis and in the weeks and months that followed. She reflects on what it takes to lead well for safety, what she learned - and what she'd do differently next time.