Quoteworthy
It’s important as health care providers to not assume what someone’s journey might look like but to be aware of the services offered to patients."
Ariel Malan and Andy Rivera

Most Recent
What Improvement Taught Me About Gardening

Every summer, senior value engineer Cindy Spangler stocks our offices with an abundance of tomatoes, zucchini, and squash. We asked her to share how improvement thinking influences her gardening. Turns out, there are parallels–learn from others, stick to your scope, and learn from the mistakes.

High Reliability Camping

Every summer, Utahns head to the mountains for camping, biking, rafting and other activities. And every summer, many a family is left without a stove, or a helmet, or a…because it was left at home. Thrill-seeker and value engineer Cindy Spangler wants to prevent your next packing mishap with a customized camping checklist.

Coping with Medical Error: Secondary Trauma

When a medical error occurs, the patient is not the only person affected. Pediatric intensivist Brian Flaherty and psychologist Megan Call describe how caregivers can be impacted by medical error and provide strategies to cope.

Designing the Digital Roadmap

How do you design a digital strategy? Chief Information Officer Donna Roach explains that it all begins with listening to your customer. Here, she guides us step-by-step through designing Utah’s digital roadmap.

Building the Future of Rural Care

Rural and frontier communities have a harder time accessing care due to long distances and a shortage of medical resources in their own communities. The leaders of the Rural & Underserved Utah Training Experience (RUUTE) program, Kylie Christensen (medical school) and Sri Koduri (residency programs/GME), share what they’ve learned about improving access for rural communities now and into the future.

Zero Suicide - How Do We Get There?

The Zero Suicide initiative has been shown to significantly reduce suicides—and working toward zero suicides is our mission. Rachael Jasperson, Zero Suicide program manager, shares the framework for how we strive for this aspirational goal.

The "How To" of Problem Solving: Strategies for Facilitating Continuous Improvement

Problems—we all have them. From the simple to the complex, they plague our daily work. Quality Improvement experts Luca Boi and Carolyn Brayko provide brief lessons and simple exercises on problem solving techniques so you can develop solutions and make improvements.

How to Solve Complex Problems

From the simple to the complex, problems plague our daily work. Quality Improvement experts Luca Boi and Ryan Murphy provide brief lessons and resources covering important problem solving techniques so you can develop solutions and make improvements.

Moving from Reactive to Proactive: Safety 2.0

Safety as a value requires a cultural shift, not just getting people to talk about patient safety but to know how it impacts everything we do. U of U Health’s Director of Patient Safety Iona Thraen draws from the personal to highlight a system-based approach for moving from reactive to proactive patient safety.

What is Digital Transformation in Health Care?

Health care delivery is ripe for digital disruption. How are we preparing for the future at U of U Health? Chief Information Officer Donna Roach outlines the path forward and what it takes to transform health care to meet an increasingly digital future.

What Happens When Reliable Isn’t Reliable?

Senior value engineer Cindy Spangler is back to share how a few simple improvement tips enable processes to reach new levels of reliability.

The 6 Foundational Elements to Creating a Culture of Collaboration

Department of Surgery collaborators Courtney Lauer, Erin Heath, and Christina Choate share their process for establishing a culture of collaboration that facilitates communication across teams, fosters shared goals, and creates an atmosphere where failure is an opportunity to learn.