Improvement Capability Development Program (ICDP)
Project Summary
The Improvement Capability Development Program (ICDP) launched in Spring 2017 and is a collaboration between the Department of Quality for Stanford Healthcare and the Stanford School of Medicine. Through ICDP, Stanford Health Care commits to returning 1 to 4% of a department’s clinical revenue, to help develop and execute far-reaching quality improvement projects, depending on the degree of engagement and outcomes. We joined the venture in 2019, bringing implementation science and mixed-methods evaluation expertise to our collaborations.
How does the ESU support ICDP projects?
We provide two distinct types of support:
1. Consultation
2. In-depth, partnered evaluation
Consultation
Consultation meetings are held between the physician improvement leaders (PILs) and our team across all departments, and are intended to support PILs in the evaluation of their ICDP projects. During consultations we provide guidance on pragmatic yet rigorous approaches to study design, methods, priorities, and scope, to support high-quality intervention evaluation.
In-depth Partnered Evaluation
Each year, a number of ICDP projects are selected by a senior committee to collaborate with our ESU team. Selections are made based on operational priorities, potential for impact, phase of the project and potential rigor of the study design. In close partnership with clinical partners, we develop evaluation plans that have methodologically strong study designs with the goal of producing peer-reviewed publications.
For more information on key learnings for the first two years of ICDP partnerships, please refer to this publication:
Vilendrer, S., Saliba‐Gustafsson, E.A., Asch, S.M., Brown‐Johnson, C.G., Kling, S.M., Shaw, J.G., Winget, M. and Larson, D.B., 2022. Evaluating clinician‐led quality improvement initiatives: A system‐wide embedded research partnership at Stanford Medicine. Learning Health Systems, 6(4), p.e10335
ICDP Departments and Projects Selected for ESU Collaboration
FY2020
Neurology: Improving efficiency of practice in ambulatory neurology by evaluating the integration of video visits
Surgery: Acceptability and effectiveness of video visits for surgical consults
Medicine: Implementing an AI deterioration tool to improve care of seriously ill inpatients
Medicine: Evaluation of inpatient virtual rounding during COVID-19
FY2021
Dermatology: Minding the gap: digitally-enabled, team-based inpatient to outpatient care coordination and transition
Pathology: Reducing the number of cross-matched blood products to decrease blood wastage
Radiology: Improving image quality through expansion of coaching model program to all imaging modalities
FY2022
OB-GYN: Understanding barriers and facilitators to breastfeeding and actualization of breastfeeding goals in Latinx/Hispanic populations
Medicine: Implementing patient-reported outcomes for heart failure
Neurosurgery: Implementing fluid restriction protocol in post-operative transsphenoidal cases
FY2023
Emergency Medicine/Neurology collaboration: Implementing an optimized discharge process and follow-up care from the emergency department for neurology referrals
Anesthesiology: Implementing a mandatory EHR-based reporting system for anesthesiologists to collect safety and quality events
Medicine: Health equity in the context of non-English-preferring hospitalized patients and advanced care planning (ACP) / serious illness conversations
Funding
The collaboration between the ESU and the Improvement Capability Development Program (ICDP) is supported by Stanford Health Care.
