Brainstorming

By engaging health department staff across all divisions in the process of developing proactive media messages based on local health needs and priorities, the Zanesville-Muskingum County Health Department was able to improve its provision of timely, needed public health information to the community.

The CT DPH innovatively improved its ability to collect and report sociodemographic information, so health disparities could be identified throughout the state and efforts could be taken to improve population health and better address health inequities.

The public health community has lagged in using digital communications to make its presence and services delivered known to the general public. Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale County Health Departments found that creating a better experience and better information for website visitors was better...

Due to decreases in funding, the economic climate, and social determinants of risk behavior in Nevada, the Washoe County Health Department had to be ready to effectively manage any large Sexually Transmitted Disease outbreak with reduced numbers of Sexual Health Program staffing. Using QI processes...

Although located in an area with significant need for teen family planning services, a public health teen clinic in Spartanburg County had low rates of use. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control followed a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) approach and used QI tools to understand...

Fast and effective investigations into foodborne illness outbreaks are an important part of a food safety program because they reduce the time that people are exposed to a pathogen. Toledo-Lucas County reduced the cycle time for an effective investigation and closure of foodborne outbreak cases...

In the long term, Licking County Health Department anticipates cost savings with respect to medical supplies. In the interim, they have successfully reorganized their supply process by creating a central supply storage location and implementing a streamlined supply ordering process without...

Even the implementation of evidence-based public health interventions poses challenges for most health departments. Using rapid-cycle tools and regular status monitoring, Cleveland County Health Department dramatically improved completion of the 5A’s smoking cessation service.

The Snohomish County Health Dept used QI on its immunization process.. By analyzing causes of error, introducing a new and standardized work flow, and using job aids that help to verify client records and data, the immunization error rate was reduced by over 50%.

By improving its grant application process, the Bethlehem Health Bureau increased the success rate of funded grant applications and increased the amount of grant funding received. The improved process now enables the organization to better meet the needs of the community it serves.

Compliance with required school immunizations rose after completion of a review of school immunization records was coupled with better methods of contacting parents. As a result, both children and the wider community experienced less spread of diseases.

Franklin County Public Health: This QI project sought to improve client satisfaction with Environmental Health programs, focusing for this project on the water quality partnership program. Understanding client satisfaction in programs that are fee-based, such as environmental health, can improve...

Deschutes County Health Services improved the efficiency and accuracy of entering data on immunizations into the state immunization registry. The interventions tested included eliminating paperwork errors, balancing workload, and improving courier scheduling.

A local health department in Washington state used QI to increase the percent of department staff who engage in physical activity as part of a worksite wellness program, learning that variety and support are critical for wellness activities to succeed.

Yadkin-County Health department used QI tools and methods decrease the time for notifying clients of abnormal Pap smear results, enabling clients to make informed decisions about follow-up care.

SRHD reduced the number of water recreation facilities with violations that required re-inspection, resulting in better efficiency and reduced risk of illness and injury among community members.

By giving women improved information on the prenatal care program and the WIC program, this collaborative increased entry into prenatal care and participation in WIC, thus promoting healthy birth outcomes in the community and synergy between the two programs.

By using quality planning to improve the effectiveness of community meetings, this small rural county increased community engagement and participation from 40 to 66% in the county-wide community health assessment and improvement planning process.

A quality improvement mini-collaborative in North Carolina focused on developing a workforce development plan to increase public health nurse retention. After doing root cause analysis, the team developed a nurse-mentoring program and measured results after six months.

The county has a high percentage of overweight and obese children. Pleasant Street School staff implemented activities related to nutrition education in a school setting. Student knowledge about fruits and vegetables increased, and the school received additional funds to foster healthy eating.

Access to prenatal care contributes to successful birth outcomes. A Kansas health department found that patients had challenges completing the application process for the Medicaid Children’s Health Insurance Program. By conducting patient education and assistance with the application, the health...

By reducing the time to perform inspections of residential septic and well systems for real estate transactions, the Mahoning County District Board of Health made a positive economic impact in its community and improved customer service relations with local realtors.

Cumberland County Health Department achieved dramatic improvements in the quality of services offered by their Adult Health Clinic through a Kaizen event. Prescription refill wait times decreased from as long as 6 weeks to less than 72 hours, and referrals to specialists, many of which had lengthy...

Reducing childhood obesity is a priority for the Oklahoma State Health Department. Staff recognized that children returning for a second year in the afterschool CATCH Kids Club would need a new curriculum and activities to keep them engaged. The Department used QI to design new components and...

The health department was concerned about a falling rate of visits by homeless people to the federally funded Health Care for Homeless project despite an increase in the homeless population. They investigated the causes and made several changes including implementing a process for walk-in service...

Committed to minimizing the health and social impact of pandemic influenza in its jurisdiction, this health department applied continuous quality improvement (CQI) tools and methods to improve the accuracy, effectiveness, and timeliness of its risk communications plan and messages to staff and...

The state health department developed a training program for public health staff at the state and local levels to apply continuous quality improvement in their delivery of public health services, in turn resulting in better health outcomes for the people of North Carolina.

Challenged by undesired delays for clinic appointments, high no-show rates, client dissatisfaction, and suboptimal productivity, Macon County Public used QI to implement an open access clinic appointment system that allowed them to schedule appointments within 72 hours for all clients and all...

In order to improve client satisfaction and increase the efficiency of WIC visits, this medium size local health department used QI to improve their Open Access appointment system. They were able to reduce the time for a complete WIC visit by 25% and increase participant satisfaction to 96%.

The Alabama state health department trained local health department family planning clinic staff in QI. The QI tools provided helped staff analyze current procedures and identify service delivery bottlenecks and then design interventions resulting in increased capacity and a reduction in waiting...

This local health department improved participation and contributions by their partners in the community to the Community Health Improvement Plan by 70%, leading to strengthened relationships with and more effective collaborative partnerships to take action to improve the community’s health.

This 10-county District health department improved the processes of immunization clinic scheduling, preparation and follow-up and reduced the number of “no shows” , leading to greater efficiency and capacity. The improved process and staff training were then standardized across the 10 counties.

The local health department published the results of restaurant inspections on their website so that people could see them and make choices about where to eat. In addition, the public gained a better understanding of what environmental health staff of the department do to prevent food borne...

The Kane County Health Department utilized QI tools to improve the efficiency of its community meeting process, strengthening the engagement and commitment of community partners.

The local health department increased the number of infants and children receiving needed vaccines as part of a WIC visit, rather than referring them to another site and potentially losing that opportunity to protect them from getting a preventable disease or transmitting a vaccine-preventable...

There was a lag between the time when health care providers diagnosed cases of sexually transmitted diseases and the providers notifying the health department. By improving the timeliness of the reports, the health department could quickly reach and treat contacts of the patient, thus...

This health department improved their method of engaging their community partners in the health improvement planning processes through meeting effectiveness surveys, more inclusive community representation, and improved communication.

The health department needed all staff nurses to be able to give vaccinations for emergencies like the H1N1 influenza epidemic, including nurses working in roles that do not involve giving clinical care. They improved the process for keeping all nurses competent in determining when, how, and which...

The health department discovered that most of its employees were unaware of the many of the Department’s media activities for outreach and education. The department made several changes to increase employee awareness of current and new media efforts and achieved a major improvement on all three of...

The Mid-Michigan District Health Department optimized the performance of the automated telephone system for clients calling the health department to assure mis-routings were minimized, customers were directed to intended recipients, and customer satisfaction was improved.