Submitted by kmcochran on
Our PQCNC Leadership Team met December 11th, and we formally approved our next initiatives to be developed in 2025 for launch in 2026! Yes, we are preparing for 2026. In October we were privileged to have nine proposals for new projects, every one which is worthy of being developed and executed, but PQCNC, to be effective, must live within our capacity to do high quality improvement work.
After tabulating all votes in person and on line our top two vote getters were Newborn Screening (proposed by the team from Duke) and Perinatal Mental Health. In our Annual Meeting proposals for Mental Health in the NICU and Beyond - Moving Forward from Hope with Hope (presented by the Cape Fear Valley team) and Perinatal Mental Health Screening & Connection to Treatment (presented by March of Dimes) were presented separately but during our meeting we decided to combine these proposals as Perinatal Mental Health.
Two projects received a large number of votes and deserve mention. The Rex Team invited the Hollidays, Julia and David, to present their perinatal care challenges. This presentation made it abundantly clear that any project we undertake must be committed to discovering and addressing disparities in our delivery of perinatal care. PQCNC has always been determined to assist teams in confronting these challenges and we will absolutely continue to do so in upcoming efforts. As the lead AIM (Alliance for Innovation in Maternal Health) organization in North Carolina we will integrate the AIM elements for equitable care into both upcoming projects, as we have tried to do in past projects.
The last initiative which requires mention is Protecting the Perineum, proposed by the Novant Team. This project was presented to the Leadership Team by Dr. Temple. This is a project for which the interventions are fairly defined but would also require tackling some embedded cultural beliefs about methods to assist delivery. It is not an AIM bundle but is a National Safety goal. While we will not begin development of this project until later in the year, we asked for agreement to pursue this, even as a pilot project, later in 2025.
So...what now?
Well PQCNC will be recruiting members for the Expert Teams for both Perinatal Mental Health and Newborn Screening. An Expert is anyone interested in the project...parent, patient, provider, system or hospital leader, public health officials, legislators, payers etc. A requirement is a willingness to read background materials and attend our virtual Expert Meetings, facilitated by PQCNC, that will occur every 2-3 weeks starting in February and running through approximately June. The Expert Team will develop the AIM statement, key driver diagram and action plan, and measures for each initiative. The initiatives will have separate Expert Teams.
So start spreading the news...we are looking for you Experts!