Grand Challenge #2 - Ideal Transitions and Coordination of Care Between Care Givers,
                                   Patients, and their Families

The second PFCC Grand Challenge is to evaluate, design, and implement ideal transitions and coordinations of care between care givers, patients, and their families in order to create exceptional care experiences.

The Problem:
From the International Journal for Quality in Health Care

Patients fairly often encounter service and quality lapses during their inpatient stays; one study revealed that at least 68 service incidents occurred per 100 admissions. However, from the patient's perspective, the in-hospital event is just one component of the care continuum, which begins during research and appointment-scheduling phases and continues through at- home recovery and follow-up. Improving these interactions as well can positively impact consumer impressions of service quality and create a seamless patient encounter with the hospital.

The Grand Challenge is open to all UPMC employees.

Submit project proposal and a list of team members by September 3, 2009

•	Teams should consist of a clinical and administrative champion and other members as needed
•	Projects should be creative, innovative, and follow the 3 steps: evaluate, design, and implement
•	NO CURRENT PFCC WORKING GROUP PROJECTS MAY BE SUBMITTED BUT NEW AND NEXT STEP PROJECTS ARE WELCOMED

Awards:
    1st place - Educational grant of $2500

Winner will not necessarily be determined by success but by the creativeness of the idea and the implementation. Failure does not exclude teams from winning as long as the ideas are innovative and we learn from the experience.