Every 40 seconds someone in the world dies by suicide. Every 41 seconds someone is left behind.

Every 40 seconds someone in the world dies by suicide. Every 41 seconds someone is left behind.

What am I doing?

On June 9, 2012 I will join thousands in San Francisco, CA who are taking steps to save lives. The goal of this journey, which will begin at dusk and finish at dawn, is to raise funds for suicide prevention. I will help end the silence and erase the stigma surrounding suicide and its causes, encourage those suffering from mental illness to seek treatment, and show support for the families and friends of the over 30,000 Americans who die by suicide each year. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teens and young adults and the second leading cause of death for college students.

What can you do?

Please help end the silence. You can register for the walk here, or if you like you can support us by visiting our team webpage.

Please help save lives, reach out to those devastated from losing a loved one to suicide and help create an outlet to help end the silence.

So many lost, so many left behind and all preventable.
~Anna

Source
More facts about suicide from theWorld Health Organization (WHO)

•In the year 2000, approximately one million people died from suicide: a "global" mortality rate of 16 per 100,000, or one death every 40 seconds.
-It's 2012 now! How many have been lost? Read the next line--too many

•In the last 45 years suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide. Suicide is now among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15-44 years (both sexes); these figures do not include suicide attempts up to 20 times more frequent than completed suicide.

•Suicide worldwide is estimated to represent 1.8% of the total global burden of disease in 1998, and 2.4% in countries with market and former socialist economies in 2020.

•Although traditionally suicide rates have been highest among the male elderly, rates among young people have been increasing to such an extent that they are now the group at highest risk in a third of countries, in both developed and developing countries.

•Mental disorders (particularly depression and substance abuse) are associated with more than 90% of all cases of suicide; however, suicide results from many complex socio-cultural factors and is more likely to occur particularly during periods of socioeconomic, family and individual crisis situations (e.g. loss of a loved one, employment, honor).
- WHO

Unfortunately the list goes on. To learn more you can visit the AFSP website here.

Quality is Goodness

I attended a wonderful talk today by the former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Don Berwick.

Here are just a few take aways.

"Waste threatens health care as a human right."
This has great meaning for me and probably confirms what many of you likely already know about me. Yes, I believe all people have a right to health and health care. Our health system should leave no one out.

"Quality is Goodness"
Taking on the broad use of the term quality, Dr. Berwick drew boundaries around the term and poignantly described meaningful quality as goodness.

What do we need to do? This is the 2.6 trillion dollar question isn't it? Here is a list to help guide us.
1. Put patients first
2. Protect the disadvantaged
3. Start at scale –move fast – go "all in"
4. Return the money
5. Act locally

"The mission is perfection."
Yes, he said perfection. This means we must take aim at zero and 100%.  

"To transform we need a transition in self-image and sense of purpose. We must accept our ethical duty to learn from and redesign our system to prevent harm."

The Ethics of Improvement

1. Professionals have a duty to help improve the systems in which they work.
2. Leaders have a duty to make 1. Logistical, feasible and supported.
3. No excuses for inaction on 1 and 2 are acceptable.
4. The duty to improve encompasses safety, efficiency, patient-centeredness, timeliness, effectiveness, and equity requires continual reduction of waste. The IOM six dimensions quality of are dimensions of goodness
5. Those who educate professionals have the duty to prepare them for improvement work.

Don's dream:

That we will embrace improvement as our duty to accomplish great and ever greater good.

I was honored to join the panel today and am grateful to California Hospital Association and John Muir Health for such a rich day of learning and collaboration.

A good day....

Anna

A note from the CCRMC and HC Transitions Kaizen Team

Using the Model for Improvement Everyday: CCRMC Improvement Academy Thursday, May 2 2012

It is important now more than ever to make sure everyone understands that improvement is in their hands. All staff should be able to recognize and use the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle in this critical time of change. What better time to make things better for our patients and staff?

Objectives:

After this presentation, learner’s shall be able to:

• Understand all elements of the PDSA cycle
• Articulate the reasons why it is used to guide PI efforts
• Understand how the PDSA cycle is utilized  in a clinical setting
• Apply the PDSA cycle in their own improvement work

We will have time for Q&A to talk more about how the Model for Improvement (MFI) is applicable to your everyday work. 

Please join us.

Anna