CSU | QI | Roles & Responsibilities - Function Representative

Quality Improvement in Student Health
By Gary Fredericksen, Director Student Health Services, Pomona

Student Health has completed its second year of participation in the 1998 CSU mini- benchmarking program. Participation increased from eight campuses in the first year to 12 campuses this year. More campuses are expected to join next year. While student health has always had extensive data collection and quality improvement activities, the benchmarking project has brought a new focus to these activities. New accreditation requirements add another level of importance to this activity. (All CSU Student Health Centers are accredited.)

The process of benchmarking itself has had significant value to the Health Services function group. First, it has provided an environment for discussion among the function group representatives from the various campuses. Both the data collection and data analysis workshops have been lively, supportive places to discuss a wide range of data collection, reporting and use issues. The discussions have led to significant improvements in the data quality submitted. This has been beneficial to the individual campuses in the improvement of the process of data collecting, for their future participation in the benchmarking project. Asecond benefit is the development of a better understanding of the campus demographic factors (enrollment, number of patient visits, residential/commuter) that drive performance of the benchmarks.

One of the most exciting outcomes has been the use of the data at the individual campuses. Several campuses have completed additional quality assurance studies around issues revealed in the benchmarks. Several campuses have used the data to drive improvements in service and to restructure services when needed.

Student Health also participated in the customer satisfaction survey. Additionally a number of the participants conducted an experimental point of service survey that was a valuable learning experience. An important finding was that at what point in the delivery of services the survey was issued effected what type of response the student would have, negative or positive. Additionally, surveying point of contact limited the survey results to only those students receiving services and did not include the entire student population who could also be surveyed.

Looking ahead to next year, Student Health Services is faced with several important transitions. The first is to incorporate the existing Chancellor's Office Health Activity Data Reporting process into benchmarking. The second is to make decisions about participation in the American College Health Association’s new benchmarking project that will begin this fall.

For Student Health, it has been a very exciting and valuable process with much more to come!

A Report on the Use of Benchmarking at Student Health Services, Hayward (contributed by Dr. Cathy Coulman): Hayward's Student Health Services (SHS) has applied the benchmarking survey results to departmental improvements in three ways. First, benchmark results identified a need for a more detailed study of SHS's operational costs that provided. The study results supported the future SHS fee schedules. Secondly, it contributed to improving operational efficiencies. Despite salary increases, SHS successfully reduced its cost per patient visit when faced with a budget shortfall in fiscal year 1997-98. This was accomplished by shifting job responsibilities as modeled by other 'best practice' campuses. SHS has currently launched a task force to further improve efficiencies by studying patient flow through the SHS and identify "best practices" among other campuses to serve as models for improvement. Thirdly, the benchmarking results are currently being used to set goals for a quality improvement study. The study's goal is to increase the number of eligible women who receive papinicoloan (pap) examinations at the SHS.



QI NEWSLETTER-July 1999	06/22/99

Quality Improvement in Student Health By Gary Fredericksen, Director Student Health Services, Pomona Student Health has completed its second year of participation in the 1998 CSU mini- benchmarking program. Participation increased from eight campuses in the first year to 12 campuses this year. More campuses are expected to join next year. While student health has always had extensive data collection and quality improvement activities, the benchmarking project has brought a new focus to these activities. New accreditation requirements add another level of importance to this activity. (All CSU Student Health Centers are accredited.) The process of benchmarking itself has had significant value to the Health Services function group. First, it has provided an environment for discussion among the function group representatives from the various campuses. Both the data collection and data analysis workshops have been lively, supportive places to discuss a wide range of data collection, reporting and use issues. The discussions have led to significant improvements in the data quality submitted. This has been beneficial to the individual campuses in the improvement of the process of data collecting, for their future participation in the benchmarking project. Asecond benefit is the development of a better understanding of the campus demographic factors (enrollment, number of patient visits, residential/commuter) that drive performance of the benchmarks. One of the most exciting outcomes has been the use of the data at the individual campuses. Several campuses have completed additional quality assurance studies around issues revealed in the benchmarks. Several campuses have used the data to drive improvements in service and to restructure services when needed. Student Health also participated in the customer satisfaction survey. Additionally a number of the participants conducted an experimental point of service survey that was a valuable learning experience. An important finding was that at what point in the delivery of services the survey was issued effected what type of response the student would have, negative or positive. Additionally, surveying point of contact limited the survey results to only those students receiving services and did not include the entire student population who could also be surveyed. Looking ahead to next year, Student Health Services is faced with several important transitions. The first is to incorporate the existing Chancellor's Office Health Activity Data Reporting process into benchmarking. The second is to make decisions about participation in the American College Health Association’s new benchmarking project that will begin this fall. For Student Health, it has been a very exciting and valuable process with much more to come! *A Report on the Use of Benchmarking at Student Health Services, Hayward (contributed by Dr. Cathy Coulman):* Hayward's Student Health Services (SHS) has applied the benchmarking survey results to departmental improvements in three ways. First, benchmark results identified a need for a more detailed study of SHS's operational costs that provided. The study results supported the future SHS fee schedules. Secondly, it contributed to improving operational efficiencies. Despite salary increases, SHS successfully reduced its cost per patient visit when faced with a budget shortfall in fiscal year 1997-98. This was accomplished by shifting job responsibilities as modeled by other 'best practice' campuses. SHS has currently launched a task force to further improve efficiencies by studying patient flow through the SHS and identify "best practices" among other campuses to serve as models for improvement. Thirdly, the benchmarking results are currently being used to set goals for a quality improvement study. The study's goal is to increase the number of eligible women who receive papinicoloan (pap) examinations at the SHS.


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Last updated: November 9, 2004