News and Events

QI Innovator Award Winner – Alex Eichman

Friday, April 17, 2015 – It is our pleasure to honor Alex Eichman, from the Washington County Department of Public Health and Environment in Minnesota, as a public health QI Innovator. Congratulations Alex!

What makes Alex Eichman a QI Innovator?

Alex Eichman leads the Performance Improvement Team (PIT) at the Washington County Department of Public Health and Environment in Minnesota. Since the beginning of her career, she has been a leader and advocate for applying QI to public health. Alex has led innovative QI initiatives that empower employees, and she has formally integrated a QI culture into her department. She engages staff at all levels to develop user-friendly, participatory, and fun tools and processes. For example, the PIT was developed under Alex’s leadership into an energizing environment based on a motorsports “PIT stop” theme. In auto racing, the pit stop is where cars stop during a race for refueling, new tires, repairs, or mechanical adjustments from the pit crew. In the department, the PIT, just like a pit crew, is a resource to help staff make repairs and adjustments and provide new resources to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their work. Alex has become a well-known statewide resource on QI, performance management, accreditation preparation, program evaluation, and results-based accountability. She goes out of her way to share new ideas and lessons learned with public health colleagues. Alex’s passion, enthusiasm, and captivating approach influence many to try QI tools, techniques, and philosophy.

We asked Alex to share some insights regarding challenges encountered, lessons learned, and advice about public health QI. Here's what she had to say!

Q: Describe one challenge you have encountered in conducting QI in public health and how you worked to overcome that challenge.

A: The one challenge that I have encountered was the overwhelming amount of QI information and tools that exist. I heard over and over again that staff did not know where to start, that there were too many tools to choose from, and that it would be helpful to have everything in one place. As I started to explore this issue, I found myself getting overwhelmed! Our PIT worked to develop a quick-start toolkit, the PIT KIT, which contains the seven most commonly used tools within the department, examples of each one, and facilitation tools and resources all contained in one spot. The purpose of the PIT KIT is to provide staff with ready-to-use tools to apply to their everyday work. QI tools provide a starting point for the improvement process. The toolkit was not intended to be exhaustive; it features just a few of the commonly used tools in the department.

Q: What is one key lesson you have learned in your experience implementing public health QI initiatives?

A: The one thing that has helped our department to advance our culture of QI is engaging staff at all levels in decision-making, especially the frontline staff. They are the ones doing the work, and they are the ones who know what is working well and what is not. When we find ourselves wondering what will make QI easier or more fun, we simply ask our staff to weigh in and use their input to pilot new approaches. We also engage them in our annual QI Council and QI Plan evaluation and use their feedback to measure our overall effectiveness.

Q: What advice would you give to public health practitioners who are new to QI?

A: Start small. Initially, QI can seem very overwhelming to staff who are already extremely busy and trying to do their best with what they have. Many are doing QI without actually realizing they are doing it. People learn by doing; we have had a lot of success with slowly introducing tools and resources into work that is already being done, like helping a team organize brainstormed ideas into themes with an affinity diagram, or prioritizing those themes using a prioritization matrix. Staff will use the tool and begin to see the value without being overwhelmed by learning yet another new technique or set of skills.

Congratulations, Alex! Thank you for sharing these wonderful insights, for your demonstrated leadership in public health QI, and for being a member of the PHQIX community!

NNPHI is Offering Seven Partial Scholarships to PHIT!

Tuesday, March 31, 2015 - NNPHI is offering seven partial scholarships to NNPHI's Public Health Improvement Training (PHIT)! PHIT will be held June 9 - 10, 2015 at the InterContinental New Orleans in New Orleans, LA! Scholarship applications are being accepted now through April 30th! Find the scholarship guidelines and application information at the PHIT registration site under the "Fees" tab!

PHQIX Webinars Now Archived!

Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - Thank you to everyone who has participated in the PHQIX webinars! We are happy to announce that the webinar recordings and associated slides are now archived on the PHQIX Videos and Webinars webpage. Questions and answers discussed during the webinars are coming soon!

The following webinars have been archived:

• Achieving Rapid Results and Energizing the Team: The What, Why, and How of Kaizen presented by Chris Bujak and Pam Vecellio of Continual Impact, LLC and Sara Warren from the Department of Health in Seminole County, Florida 
• Raising the Bar with a New Performance Management System presented by Stephen Johnson from the Maricopa County Department of Public Health in Arizona
• Using a Quality Council to Advance Performance Management and Quality Improvement presented by Stacy Wenzl from the Spokane Regional Health District in Washington State 
• Lean Six Sigma presented by Wanda Williams from the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department 

PHQIX Open Forum Presentation: Quality Improvement in the Real World

Tuesday, March 17, 2015 - PHQIX will be presenting “Quality Improvement in the Real World: Lessons Learned from the Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange (PHQIX)” during the NNPHI Open Forum! Please join us if you are interested in hearing about the experiences of other QI practitioners that can help you improve your own projects, avoid pitfalls, and better plan for future work. PHQIX has analyzed fifty recently published Quality Improvement projects and identified significant and overarching experiences, impressions, and lessons learned shared by submitters implementing projects in real-world settings. Hear these insights and share your own in this interactive, discussion-based session aimed at informing your Quality Improvement journey. Join us on Thursday March 19th from 3- 4 pm CT in the Pecan Meeting Room at the NNPHI Open Forum!

New QI Video Highlights Washington County, Oregon!

Tuesday, January 13, 2015- Washington County, OR, conducted a Kaizen Event to improve the volume of childcare facilities that used the local health department (LHD) for their state required inspections. The agency implemented several new policies and protocols to standardize the entire inspection process. As a result, they anticipate a reduction in the overall cost of inspections and an increase in facilities using the LHD for inspections. Check out the video at the bottom of our homepage and read more about this QI Initiative here!

Performance Management Measures

Thursday, January 8, 2015 - Happy New Year to the PHQIX Community! Are you developing - or thinking about developing - a performance management system? Check out this recent Community Forum topic on Performance Management Measures to learn some helpful insights and share your own thoughts! 

Welcome PHQIX's New Partner- The Center for Public Health Quality!

Monday, December 08, 2014- PHQIX welcomes a new partner, The Center for Public Health Quality (CPHQ), to the PHQIX Community! CPHQ is a national resource for quality improvement among public health organizations. CPHQ provides training and tools, shares what works in public health, promotes performance measurement, leads strategic QI initiatives, and engages leadership to drive organizational change. Read more about our new partner!