Posted by ImproveCareNow™ on March 12, 2012
When physicians work together it can accelerate improvements in quality of care. That’s the lesson from a new study by ImproveCareNow, a national quality improvement and research network. The study, published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, is now available online and is scheduled to appear in their printed journal in April 2012.
“The proportion of children with Crohn’s disease who were in remission increased from 55 percent to 68 percent, with a similar improvement in children with ulcerative colitis – all without new medicines,” says Wallace Crandall, MD, lead author of the study, director of the Center for Pediatric and Adolescent Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and ImproveCareNow physician leader. “There had been virtually no improvement in IBD outcomes for decades, until now.”
Peter Margolis, MD, PhD, co-author of the study, had the following to say about this trailblazing research: “Forming an active, open learning community that is focused on data produces improvements in outcomes, as much as or more than a new drug. What if all kids could be part of a network like this? More than 10,000 would be in remission today.”