An improvement collaborative provides a vehicle for participants to support, encourage and learn best practices from each other to improve performance at their local institution. The ACR® Learning Network will consist of four improvement collaboratives, each led by a radiologist expert who will supervise improvement teams at four to six facilities. The improvement collaboratives are: Mammography Positioning Improvement Collaborative, Lung Cancer Screening Improvement Collaborative, Prostate MR Image Quality Improvement Collaborative and the Recommendations Follow-up Improvement Collaborative.
Participating teams will work to solve the same problem at their respective institutions, learning and sharing as they go, supported by ACR ImPower, a team- and project-based, multidisciplinary and structured improvement program.
Teams participate in 10 learning sessions held over nine months, learning systematic improvement methods while solving meaningful problems with lasting solutions. Methods and tools are provided to support a systematic approach to problem solving in complex healthcare environments. Just-in-time quality improvement training and project tracking help ensure projects continue to progress until the goals are achieved.
Program elements include:
Project Team Roles |
Approximate Time Requirement |
|
Project Sponsor | The person in department leadership who is highly motivated to complete this project and can provide the resources to get it done. | One hour per project per week or as needed |
Physician Leader |
Project team member to lead clinical decision making and ensure continuity with physician team. |
Two hours per week |
Improvement Coach | QI professional who supports the team in the application of program concepts and tools. One coach can be assigned up to two project teams. |
One day per week per project |
Team Leader |
Project team member with a leadership role or leadership potential to manage the project team. |
Two hours per project per week outside of team member requirement |
Team Member |
Front-line staff that represent the process you are trying to improve. Two to four members per team. |
Three to six hours per week; two-hour training sessions held every third week |
Data Analyst | If the team leader or coaches do not have the capability to access data from department systems, a data analyst will be needed to support the projects. |
Two hours per project per week (heavier at the beginning of the course) |