Quality Improvement with Data (QID)

The Quality Improvement with Data (QID) website is maintained by the QID/Long-Term Care Quality Improvement (LTC-QI) group within the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The QID group conducts research to improve long-term care and other health systems through the development of information and decision support systems and dissemination and implementation of quality improvement measurement and systems design. Some of the projects and personnel associated with QID were affiliated with the Center for Health Systems Research and Analysis (CHSRA) UW- Madison before its closing in 2019.

Heather Bruemmer Awards for Assisted Living Quality

Congratulations to John Sauer, the 2023 awardee of the Heather Bruemmer Lifetime Achievement Award for Assisted Living Quality.

The Wisconsin Coalition for Collaborative Excellence in Assisted Living (WCCEAL), established in 2009, is a group of dedicated people organized to improve the outcomes of individuals living in Wisconsin assisted living facilities. When assisted living communities and health care facilities implement internal quality assurance and quality improvement throughout their systems, they will have better outcomes. The core of WCCEAL is the implementation of an association developed, department approved comprehensive quality assurance, quality improvement program using standardized data reporting processes and feedback report. For more information on this project, visit the WCCEAL website.

The Clinical Resource Center (CRC) is a clinical care resource website designed to provide key information for staff working in long-term care. For more information on this project, visit the CRC website.

QID's online system for quality data collection and reports. This system provides a password protected platform for both secure data reporting and customizable feedback and benchmarking reports.

The goals of the Wisconsin Long-Term Care Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Toolkit, created by the Wisconsin Healthcare-Associated Infections in Long-Term Care Coalition are to help long-term care facilities:

Standardize the assessment and communication of findings in residents experiencing a change-in-condition where UTI is suspected
Promote the use of active monitoring and delay of urine testing and antibiotic treatment among residents where the risk of UTI is low
Promote the appropriate use of antibiotics (drug, dose, duration) in residents where the risk of UTI is high

Improving Management of Urinary Tract Infections in Nursing Institutions through Facilitated Implementation (IMUNIFI) is a clinical trial led by Christopher Crnich, MD, PhD, associate professor, Infectious Disease, and James Ford, PhD, assistant professor, Social and Administrative Science, University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy, aimed at improving urinary tract infection (UTI) management in Wisconsin nursing homes by comparing strategies for implementing the Wisconsin Long-Term Care UTI Toolkit.

Suspicion of a UTI is the most common indication for antibiotic prescribing in nursing homes across the U.S., and the condition most often associated with inappropriate antibiotic use in those facilities. That's led to a rise in antibiotic resistance, which in turn threatens to create a scenario in which existing antimicrobial therapies fail to treat common, previously treatable infections.

Data reporting and report dissemination for this study was created and maintained by the QID group UW – Madison.