The 6^th annual Unified Quality Improvement Symposium was held virtually on Feb. 2. The symposium featured 23 projects related to quality improvement, patient safety, population health and interprofessional practice from Vidant Health and East Carolina University (ECU).

Nearly 130 participants attended the virtual symposium, during which academic and community physicians, health professionals, health care teams, residents, fellows and students had the opportunity to present their work in systems improvement and practice redesign to an audience of peers and health system leaders.

Dr. Mike Waldrum, CEO of Vidant and dean of the Brody School of Medicine, set the tone for the day during his opening remarks when he stated, “Quality is about caring, and caring is about love.”

Accepted presentations were divided into four categories: podium, quick shot podium, poster and works-in-progress poster presentations. The winners are:

Outstanding podium presentations

• “Increasing Reconciliation of Outside Clinical Information during Hospitalizations at Vidant Health Hospitals” – Gary Allen, M3, LINC Scholar; Rose Jones, BS; Gregory Knapp, MD; Jessica Setzer, MBA
• “For the Love of the Line CLABSI Reduction Project” – Erin Pearson, RN; Amy Campbell, PhD; Jamie Hall, BSN, RN; Takisha Williams, MSN, RN, NPD-BC

The quick shot podium award

• “Improving Self-Management of Healthy Weight Related Goals at the Pediatric Healthy Weight Clinic” – Tejal Naik, fourth year medical student, LINC Scholar​

Outstanding poster award

• “A QI Project to Decrease Suboptimal Patient Transfers from the NICU to the Special Care Nursery” – Kiane Douglas, third year medical student, LINC Scholar

Congratulations to all the winners and those who submitted and presented projects. As one of Vidant’s three imperatives, quality is an essential component in our ability to fulfill our mission of improving the health and well-being of eastern North Carolina.

View the day’s presentations and learn more about the symposium.