| New Office Sets
Bar
In a world inundated with
catchy Madison Avenue slogans and blitzkrieg multi-media
marketing campaigns, the word “quality” is used to
describe everything from air to Airedales. At Ford,
"Quality is Job One," and In & Out Burger has
"Quality You Can Taste." Sociologists ponder our
"quality of life" and college football coaches pray
for "quality wins" to boost their chances of going
to a bowl game.
But what is quality? How do you
know you have it? And if you have it, how do you measure it?
At the School of Dentistry,
answering those questions is the job of Marina Jimenez,
director of the new office of quality assurance. A 1990
graduate of the USC dental hygiene program, Jimenez has worked
in the school's faculty practice since its inception in 1992.
She also has served intermittently as a dental hygiene
clinical instructor over the past decade and a half.
While quality may be difficult
to define in some industries, Jimenez believes the School of
Dentistry's is clearly conveyed in its Standards of Care. Her
task is to quantify those standards and to accurately measure
the school's performance.
"I'm really fortunate to
have a background here at the School of Dentistry. I know the
clinical protocol and systems and I'm familiar with the
tradition of excellence that exists here. It's been a real
asset as I begin to evaluate the quality assurance
system," says Jimenez.
A primary focal point of the
quality assurance effort is customizing axiUm, the school's
new patient management software, to track crucial information
regarding patient treatment, records and satisfaction.
"It is a really robust piece of software. Catherine
Conti, our clinical affairs director, is part of a team that
is really working diligently to customize it to our clinic’s
specific needs," says Jimenez.
Jimenez has already begun
collecting chart audits digitally with axiUm and is in the
process of conducting patient satisfaction surveys with the
versatile software.
Data will be collected in all
USCSD clinics. In remote locations, such as the Mobile Clinic,
audits will be performed over a secure Internet connection.
Jimenez is eager to deploy
aspects of the patient management software that will assist
student and faculty practioners in reducing clinical errors.
For instance, axiUm will “red flag” all relevant
information in a patient’s health history. Also, the
software will not permit operators to continue in areas where
important information, such as baseline vitals, has not been
entered.
Working with Joyce Galligan,
chair of the safety and asepsis committee, Jimenez is also
gathering data regarding clinical infection control. Students
are audited at random to determine their compliance with
School of Dentistry infection control standards.
"This is an instructive
and constructive exercise and carries no punitive action for
negative results. We want to keep it as a learning
exercise," says Jimenez.
In addition to compiling
clinical data, Jimenez will collaborate with Eileen Suffet,
director of the office of outcomes assessment, to work on
various clinical assessment projects.
"Our goal is to clearly
understand the school's performance so we can achieve optimal
results. We will provide data to the leadership that will
serve as a basis for improvements in patient care, clinical
operation and student education," says Jimenez.
She hopes to develop both PBL
cases for students and continuing education courses for
faculty and staff based upon problems identified by the
quality assurance program.
"I really want everyone to
recognize the importance of quality assurance in our clinics.
Once our new system is in place and fully functional, I
believe it will allow us to continually improve and assure
that our clinical care is well above acceptable standards, is
patient centered, and always emphasizes and embraces health,
safety and the well-being of our patients," says Jimenez. |
