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DANVILLE -- Geisinger Medical Center's pediatric and adult cystic fibrosis (CF) programs were both selected as 2023 recipients of the annual Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Quality Improvement Award for their work in improving patient care.
"It is a tremendous honor for our program's quality improvement work to be recognized by the CF Foundation," said Dr. Catherine Shoff, DO, director of the adult CF program and physician in pulmonary medicine. "This is a unique specialty we offer the community, and our CF program has evolved and continues to grow."
To determine eligibility for the award, the CF Foundation committee visited Geisinger in the spring and reviewed the program's performance standards. The committee looked at how the care team identified opportunities for improvement, the results of those efforts and how those efforts were aligned to improve clinical outcomes. They also looked for ways in which the care team involved patients and families in improvement efforts and how they employed innovative strategies to improve care processes and outcomes.
Some of the team's work that was reviewed by the committee included improvements to sweat testing for patients and processes for screening and managing CF-related diabetes. Nutrition initiatives to increase patients' body mass indexes to recommended ranges were also considered, as well as the creation of a transition process for pediatric patients into adult care. Most recently, the adult lung transplant team collaborated with a regional lung transplant program to develop a standardized process for lung transplant education and referral for patients with advanced CF lung disease.
The adult and pediatric CF programs were both granted full accreditation by the CF Foundation during the spring site visit. The reaccreditation is done every five years.
The Geisinger teams will be recognized as Quality Improvement Award recipients and will receive a plaque at the North American CF Conference in Phoenix on Nov. 4.