Development of a Quality and Safety Management Information System for the Ireland South Women & Infants Directorate

“HCI have been hugely supportive in helping the Ireland South Women & Infants Directorate to implement a Quality Management Information System. The PPPG Library has brought all our policies and procedures together, giving staff across the maternity network better access to them in one central repository. TrainScan^TM has really helped reduce administrative burden in managing training records. It provides great transparency around training, offers easy access to training compliance reports and helps us to develop a training strategy that gives staff across the four maternity hospitals better access to standardised training. This QMIS will support ISWID in achieving our goal of improving outcomes for our patients.”

Kate Lyons

Project Manager MaternityONESouth, Cork University Maternity Hospital

Background

The Ireland South Women & Infants Directorate (ISWID) comprises of four maternity units across Cork University Maternity Hospital, University Hospital Kerry, University Hospital Waterford and Tipperary University Hospital. The MaternityONESouth project aims to drive collaboration across this network to strengthen and pool resources and expertise to manage Obstetric and Neonatal Emergencies. To achieve their goals, ISWID required a Quality Management Information System (QMIS) that would create a central repository for all Policies, Procedures, Protocols and Guidelines (PPPGs) and reduce the amount of time spent on day-to-day activities relating to document control and staff training management. To do this, ISWID requested HCI’s support with the development and implementation of a QMIS utilising the HCI Knowledge Portal^TM and Q-Pulse.

Objectives

Identify and agree the current quality management information processes flows.
Develop and agree the new processes, policies and procedures pertinent to the QMIS development.
Coordinate the provision of a dedicated Q-Pulse database.
Agree and set up specific classifications to be used within the Q-Pulse modules.
Upload all data relating to the users of the system and policies and procedures.
Demo, test and approve all Q-Pulse applications and HCI Knowledge Portal^TM.
Communicate, educate and roll-out the system to all relevant departments within the organisation.

Solution

In order to ensure ISWID implemented a best practice QMIS utilising the HCI Knowledge Portal^TM and Q-Pulse, HCI provided the following solution:

Development of project plan.

Process mapping to identify and agree processes.

Development of QMIS Policies and Procedures.

Configuration and integration of Q-Pulse.

Deployment and testing of Q-Pulse.

Development of TrainScan^TM, Training Analysis and Training Portal.

Development of a PPPG Library.

Uploading of Documents.

Development of QualSIP^TM– Real time data intelligence portal.

Communication, Training and System Roll-Out.

HCI QMIS System Web Interfaces

Challenges

Due to COVID-19 there was redeployment of project team members which caused a pause in project development.
The HSE ransomware attack caused a delay and reduced access to IT resources.
IT infrastructural challenges due to legacy systems.
Gathering user and document data from variety of sources across the four sites.
Added complexity due to directorate maternity units being collocated in four separate hospitals.

Outcome

ISWID successfully implemented a QMIS, utilising the HCI Knowledge Portal and Q-Pulse. This QMIS supports ISWID in fulfilling the requirements of the National Standards for Safer Better Maternity Services, with a focus on obstetric emergencies. HCI is now providing ISWID with ongoing monitoring and administration of the QMIS and technical support to all staff.

Key Results

The project brings together all the PPPGs from across the four maternity hospitals, making them easily accessible to staff via the PPPG Library.
TrainScan^TMis utilised to reduce administrative burden and streamline staff training management, by allowing trainers to schedule training events, record staff training attendance by scanning staff ID badges and line managers to analyse training compliance.
Staff training records have been created with mandatory competency requirements depending on their job roles.
Staff can access their own training record via the Training Portal and view and update their own training history and mandatory competency requirements.
QualSIP provides real time data and oversight of the Q-Pulse document module, for example data extracted includes documents overdue for review and a breakdown of document acknowledgements and outstanding acknowledgements.

Benefits

One centralised system for staff to access PPPGs and training information.
HCI Knowledge Portal^TM provides simplified web-interfaces which help with staff adoption and utilisation of the QMIS.
All staff have access to Continuous Professional Development (CPD) training courses that meet mandatory training requirements.
Improves communication and collaboration across the four maternity hospitals, reducing duplication of work and increasing efficiencies.
Assists clinicians in looking at governance structures around the development of policies and procedures and provides a clear pathway for document control.
TrainScan^TM supports an effective training strategy as it provides transparency and oversight of what training is scheduled, completed or remains outstanding.
Supports HSE and HIQA regulatory compliance as training data is real time and training reports can be quickly and easily accessed as required.