The G&A Way

While not sexy, sepsis is a common and potentially life-threatening condition. Do your field providers understand sepsis and does your CQI process recognize missed sepsis treatment opportunities? In this episode, Paul and Kevin discuss the challenges providers have in recognizing and treating sepsis, and what CQI managers need to be on the lookout for to prevent negative patient outcomes.

In this episode, Paul and Kevin speak with guest Jerry Bardwell on how to perform an audit of an EMS run report for CQI purposes. Understanding how to “read between the lines” can provide valuable insight into whether a call was performed to perfection, or whether there is room for improvement. You won’t want to miss this episode.

Many providers still do not bring all their equipment to the patient’s side despite regulatory bodies attempts to change this practice. In this episode Paul and Kevin discuss why it is important to do, how to identify if this is an issue, and how to find and fix cases where providers fail to do so.

Bad patient care and customer service don’t usually happen in a vacuum. Can your CQI program identify and predict provider behaviors that may land your organization on the evening news? In this episode Paul and Kevin discuss how CQI can help prevent high visibility incidents and how your CQI program can be a leading indicator for such preventable behaviors.

Stroke CQI is about more than just giving a stroke alert and doing a stroke assessment. Join Paul and Kevin as they discuss the various intricate details of performing CQI on The CVA patient and what errors providers make that should be identified and addressed

Paul and Kevin discuss why medical directors and regulatory agencies are requiring more detail in the documentation of how patients are moved. Learn why how you move the patient is the newest frontier in proper documentation and how to get providers to give you the data you need.

Providers who actively solicit a patient refusal in the field is about as high a risk activity that can cause adverse patient outcomes and potentially lawsuits. In this episode Paul and Kevin discuss the provider induced patient refusal (PIPR) and discuss ways for EMS CQI professionals to minimize this risk.

In the season 2 opener, Paul and Kevin discuss the ACS patient and how EMS CQI programs can better understand the challenges and solutions to successfully identify improvement opportunities for ACS patients.

Paul and Kevin discuss season 1 and how the G&A Way Podcast came to be, a retrospective review of the topics in season 1, and some teasers on what to expect in season 2.

Paul and Kevin discuss the attributes and qualities of EMS 1%’ers. How do the 1%’ers act and what are the traits to look for when hiring the best-of-the-best to work for your organization?

Paul and Kevin discuss how providers performance can, and is, affected by factors both known and unknown that lead them to under-perform. Understanding what impacts their behavior can help the CQI coordinator tailor their technique to get optimal performance from every provider.

Standard QA/QI thinking is medieval. It asks all the wrong questions. In this episode Paul and Kevin talk about the movie Moneyball and how tracking a single key performance score is easier and more predictive of overall quality of care than trying to monitor dozens of individual measures.

In this Episode, Paul and Kevin discuss the common phenomenon, ALS Triaging to BLS and the risks involved, without proper supporting documentation, to the patient, the provider, and the EMS agency.

Paul and Kevin discuss the answer to the questions, "Why I can't get my EMS CQI right in-house" and “I didn’t know I could outsource EMS CQI”. Learn how outsourcing your EMS CQI program with Girard & Associates can benefit you, your agency and staff using the "G&A 4C's" of EMS CQI.

On this episode Paul and Kevin discuss whether you are an EMS provider or an EMS Agency, put a lawyer on speed dial.  You are one complaint away from unbridled anxiety, stress, career long embarrassment, and even lawsuits.

Paul and Kevin discuss where CQI should fall on an EMS service’s organizational chart and how CQI officers can still be effective even if they are not in the formal structure of the organization.

In this episode, Paul and Kevin discuss the change in EMS over the years from “scoop and go” to treat on scene and the importance of staring care at the patient’s side.

In this episode Paul and Kevin talk about the traits, attributes, and skill sets that they see in the most successful of EMS CQI Coaches.

In this episode of the G&A Way podcast, Kevin and Paul discuss the need for agencies to have a robust CQI process that includes a CQI review of the CQI process.

In this episode, Paul and Kevin discuss the need for complete patient assessments and the problems that result from inadequate assessments and what CQI coordinators need to do to help providers overcome this problem. “Coaching Up Patient Assessment”… How do we do it?

In too many EMS agencies, medical directors do not always get the information needed from the CQI process that allows them to provide the necessary input into how patients get treated. If your CQI program does not have a robust mechanism for eliciting medical director input, your CQI personnel may be making medical director decisions without realizing it. Kevin and Paul discuss this common pitfall in CQI systems that may increase risk to agencies and their personnel by short-cutting the medical director review process.

“Incentivizing CQI” – Kevin and Paul continue to discuss the need for better incentive programs that can help in retaining employees, creating better job satisfaction, and showing that EMS agencies really do care for their employees at all levels of the organization.

“Incentivizing CQI” – Are incentives in EMS a topic whose time has come? Kevin and Paul discuss the need for better incentive programs that can help in retaining employees, creating better job satisfaction, and showing that EMS agencies really do care for their employees at all levels of the organization.

In this episode Kevin and Paul discuss the disturbing events in Springfield Illinois that resulted in two EMS providers being charged in the death of a patient in their care. Is callous indifference on the rise in EMS?

Paul Girard and Kevin Kelley discuss how to make money and stay out of trouble using a Continuous Quality Improvement Program. Is it just a cost center for the service or can money be generated with a proper CQI program in place? Want to quickly calculate your potential Return On Investment using Girard & Associates CQI program?