Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1495311
604 Vilert A. Loving, MD, MMM, et al. An Asset-Based Quality Improvement Tool for Health Care Organizations Figure 3: This figure shows the back-end component of our institution's asset-based quality improvement tool. The Ap- preciative Inquiry Team explores submitted stories of excellence and answers these questions to inspire potential organi- zationwide quality improvement projects or best practices. scriptive data points for quality improvement feedback to organizational leadership and future direction planning. Af- ter these descriptive data points, the front-end component of the ABQI tool poses its one open-ended question: The user is asked to detail the story of excellence. Finally, to en- courage frontline HCP engagement with quality initiatives, the tool inquires if the user wishes to be involved with any quality improvement projects triggered by their story. If the user selects "yes," an e-mail address is requested for follow- up communication. Back-End Component The next step in the ABQI tool is story analysis. After front- line HCPs and staff submit ABQI stories, AIT leads pre- view the stories to ensure that they are appropriate for fur- ther review. For example, when submissions consist of sim- ple accolades for colleagues without reference to replicable processes or outcomes, AIT leads stop the process. For sto- ries deemed worthy of in-depth review, the AIT leads refer the submissions to AIT members for evaluation. The AIT members then examine the stories and contact the reported HCPs to add context to the submitted stories. When AIT members have sufficient understanding of the clinical ex- cellence story, they access the back-end component of the ABQI tool ( Figure 3 ). The back-end component of the ABQI tool first asks the reviewer to consider what usually happens in this clinical scenario. Presumably, the usual clinical process is subopti- mal relative to the story of excellence being described. Next, to inspire potential quality improvement project ideas, the reviewer is asked to imagine an ideal state with limitless re- sources to address this clinical scenario. The expectation is that this thought process will highlight performance gaps between the current state and the ideal state. The ABQI tool then asks the AIT reviewer to consider whether the submit- ted story is a best practice. If so, the reviewer should ex-