As part of the UW Health System, the Department of Dermatology provides patient care via the region’s most experienced faculty and advanced practice providers. Dermatology works closely with UW Primary Care departments and other primary care offices to promote optimal patient care at the most appropriate setting. The Department places the utmost importance on strong communication with and support of all its primary care partners to develop and provide the best patient treatment plan.
The Department of Dermatology also places great importance on measuring and reporting its quality efforts. The Department’s Quality Improvement Committee meets monthly and is led by Margo Reeder, MD. This multi-disciplinary committee continuously looks for ways to improve the quality of patient care and service delivered at all the Department’s clinical sites. In 2014, members from this team were involved in developing and implementing a process to transition stable patients back to their primary care physicians in an effort to improve patient access.
This process was ultimately presented at the 2014 Institute for Healthcare Improvement National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health (Improving Dermatology Access).
Patient satisfaction results at the Department, clinic and individual faculty member are reviewed regularly at faculty and staff meetings. Action plans for improvement are created and implemented as needed to help Dermatology meet or exceed the UW Health Ambulatory Service Standards. In 2015, the largest UW Dermatology clinic, located at One South Park Street, was highlighted as one of two UW Health clinics to show statistically significant improvement in three different organizational priority (Survey Results).
Resident physicians are also expected to actively participate in the Department’s quality improvement activities. Each resident will develop their own quality improvement project during the course of their residency. In addition, resident physicians have the opportunity to work on the Department’s Quality Improvement Committee or assist faculty with quality improvement pilot projects as implementing telemedicine at the VA or UW Health System.