Author: jaustin

Allegan County Health Department
Location: Southwest Michigan
Population Served: 113,000

Insert your LHD’s logo here

Team Members:
Angelique Joynes, Rashmi Travis, William Hinz, Jane Waanders, Cindy Stiles, Jackie Skelton, Ben Williams, Peggy French, Sophie Radlinski, Nancy Meyers, and Vicki Weaver.

Quality Improvement Story Board
Implementing a Systematic
Department Wide
Survey Process!

Act

Plan

Study

Do

Plan
Identify an Opportunity and Plan for Improvement

1. Getting Started

What is the problem that will be addressed by the team? Why is this team/project needed?
Only 33% of Allegan County’s Health Department implements a clients satisfaction survey process.
Clients and stakeholders are not allow the opportunity for input.
Is essential to get client input in implementing a community need’s assessment as well as making programmatic changes in our agency.
To improve the population’s health and wellbeing in our community by utilizing data collected via these surveys.
The client needs to be able to provide input so that evaluations can occur to see if our interventions are appropriate and effective.
A systematic department wide survey process is a minimum program requirement for Michigan’s Local Public Health Quality Improvement Supplement of their accreditation program as well as impacting numerous measures in the domains of the PHAB (National Public Health Accreditation Board).

2. Assemble the Team

Since this was a department wide survey process there needed to be representation from the whole department. It was essential to identify key members department wide who were interested. The CQI project was discussed at a General Staff Meeting in October 2011 and the team was formed to include the leadership team:

Why do only 33% of the programs have a survey process?

The team evaluated the potential causes and it was noted that not having a survey process was identified in the team members, programs, and process areas of the diagram. It was also discovered that there was not a standard survey or template that the health department utilized. A standard survey was adopted and voted on and approved. Each program was tasked with developing their own client satisfaction survey process for their programs to allow all clients the opportunity for input based on the realization that the services provided at the health department could be a field visit, office visit, or maybe just an electronic interaction.

Examples of some of the survey processes the programs created utilizing simple process maps posted below. (These were posted on a shared drive as well as in the programs’ individual manuals for easy access.)

What measurements did we set prior to the “Do” phase of our project to identify how we would measure success?

Do
Test the Theory for Improvement

6. Test the Theory

We had originally planned to start our “Do” phase and test our theory May 01, 2012 but the team had to moved it our start date to June 01,2012 because our county administration was interested in our project being a pilot project for other departments. So there was a delay so that other departments could provide input in regards to the survey itself. The survey was adapted based on input and then all the programs implemented their survey processes based on what they created for their program.

Study
Use Data to Study Results of the Test

7. Study the Results

Aim Statement:

By September 30, 2012 increase the percentage of Allegan County Health Department’s programs that implement the department wide survey process from 33% to 75% to provide all clients/stakeholders and opportunity for input.

There were 336 surveys returned between June 01, 2012– September 30, 2012.
Each program had at least one survey returned with the exception of Health Education which was cut from the health department during the project.
81.3% of staff implemented their survey process during this time period based on data collected from an electronic survey that was sent out to all ACHD staff.

3. Examine the Current Approach

5. Develop an Improvement Theory

Act
Standardize the Improvement and Establish Future Plans

Continue Building that Culture of CQI one Project at a Time!

Each program is going to adopt the current survey process or adapt based on lessons learned.
Each program will continue to utilize the department wide survey but will add 3-4 questions that are program specific on the back side of the survey so that they can capture the program specific data that is essential to adequate program evaluation.
Each program will continue to evaluate this at least annually as well as embed the client satisfaction survey process into their program’s strategic plan so that it is a formal expectation.
Utilize this project as a springboard to facilitate individual program’s CQI projects related to client input and opportunities for improvement.

•Sophie Radlinski (PH Support Staff)

•Peggy French (Sanitarian/Food Program)

•Ben Williams (Sanitarian/Recycling)

•Nancy Meyers (EH Support Staff)

•Vicki Weaver (PH Support Staff)

•Cindy Stile (Public Health RN)

•Jackie Skelton (Public Health RN)

•Rashmi Travis (Health Officer)

•Bill Hinz (Director of EH)

•Jane Waanders (Director of Agency Support)

•Angelique Joynes (Director of PH)