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Advancing the public health workforce to achieve organizational excellence
Why are They Stomping in Frederick, MD?

Date: 3/25/2015 9:16 AM

Related Categories: Quality Improvement, Quality Improvement Results

Topic: Infrastructure, Performance Management and Quality Improvement

Tag: Infrastructure, Quality Improvement Application, Storyboard, Accreditation

Barbara A. Brookmyer, MD, MPH is Health Officer for Frederick County, Maryland. She previously served as Deputy Health Officer on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in Somerset County and Dorchester County. While working for the Health Resources and Services Administration, she developed policies to increase the availability of primary care clinicians and other health professionals in underserved areas. She is board certified in family medicine.

 

Our quality improvement (QI) journey started with a QI plan based on Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) standards. It progressed to training at our health department provided by Harry Lenderman, QI expert with the Public Health Foundation (PHF). Harry taught us a great trick to identify and build momentum around QI activities that has made quite an impact on our culture. Harry told us to stomp twice each time we identify an opportunity for QI.  When we hear “stomp, stomp” in a meeting, we know we have just identified a need to look at the data to better inform what we are doing. It has been quite infectious.
 
These days it is difficult to have any conversation without identifying QI opportunities. When we stomp in meetings where people are unfamiliar with Harry’s training, it provides a new opportunity for us to tell the story about Harry driving home the need to use data and to keep spreading the wisdom.
 
Our staff has learned that QI is a good thing, and not just for accreditation purposes. We hold “Gallery Walks” in our health department. Each division displays at least one storyboard showcasing a recent QI effort. The March 2015 Gallery Walk included a storyboard from the Infant and Toddlers Program featuring a Cause and Effect (Fishbone) Diagram to identify ways to serve the target number of children from birth to age three years. Monthly monitoring has confirmed that recent performance has exceeded their goal.
Frederick Gallery Walk.JPG 

Today, we see active QI engagement within all agency divisions. Our PHAB site visitors even identified QI as one of our top three strengths (along with community engagement and communication, both internal and external).

 
We are honored to help continue spreading the word. Our folks are stomping all the time.
 
 
 
  
  Gallery Walk, March 17, 2015 
 
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The PHF Pulse Blog welcomes conversations and commentary from contributors. Posts may not necessarily reflect the views of the Public Health Foundation.
 
For more information about technical assistance from PHF, explore our  Performance Improvement Learning Series Catalog. To inquire about these services, contact Margie Beaudry at (202)218-4415 or mbeaudry@phf.org. You can also submit your information online.

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Sonja Armbruster

3/29/2015

Thank you for sharing your success story! I love the idea of “Gallery Walks” and I'll be sharing that and trying it myself. All the best to you and your continued QI transformations. --SA

Ron Bialek

3/26/2015

Three cheers and many stomps. Having fun while doing QI is truly a way to infuse this into an organization's culture. Thank you for sharing your story.

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