Phoenix VA Hosts Annual Learning Expo

This year's learning expo theme was “Mission: Possible” and plays on espionage. Attendees were able to visit fun and interactive booths where they participated in short clandestine “Secret Missions” to increase their knowledge of Lean process improvement tools, high reliability principles, and the work the Phoenix VA staff has been doing to improve the safety, quality, efficiency, and care experience for Veterans. 

“We love the opportunity to quickly connect employees with tools that empower them and inspire process improvement work,” said Lauren Hill, Systems Redesign Coordinator. “One employee, Rise Hills, learned about the PDSA framework through a cornhole game at last year’s event and went on to apply that tool in her work area, geriatric administration. She was also a presenter at this year’s expo wildly popular PDSA booth and has undoubtedly inspired other employees to use this tool,” said Hill.

While the learning expo is an engaging event for Veterans, employees, and visitors, the purpose of this annual event is to increase transparency for positive initiatives and quality improvement work happening around the Phoenix VA Health Care System. The event supports Phoenix’s high reliability journey by fostering a culture of transparency and education. Attendees are also connected with resources that will help them take the next steps to participate in improvement work.

Additionally, the expo is aligned with visits from SR, HRO, and VX partners from around VISN22 allowing the bidirectional sharing of improvement work and best practices that showcase high reliability. 

“We had approximately 160 Veterans, employees, and visitors participating in the activities,” said Ramadan Ali, System Redesign Chief. “We were very pleased with the turnout and were excited that our Veterans Family Advisor Council (VFAC) Co-Chairs were able to come by and participate as well.”

An example of a booth demonstrated during the expo was “Spy Standard Work.” This booth demonstrated the importance of standard work in reducing waste and variation in processes. Participants were challenged to draw the same images with varying levels of direction or standard work. A picture is worth a thousand words and, when standard work was lacking, these images oftentimes were as starkly different as night and day. Having standard work in place ensures our Veterans receive the appropriate high-quality product each time.

Another example of a booth demonstrated at the expo included, “Learn PDSA with the Tom Cruise ‘Mission Impossible’ Test of Change.” Come on, we ALL remember that scene! The presenters at this booth provided the opportunity to recreate the lowering of our ‘spy’ through a minefield of waste and challenged them to determine alternate options and routes to complete the mission most efficiently. Oftentimes, in complex healthcare processes, we think we may know a solution to increase efficiency, and that solution must be tested prior to full implementation. The PDSA framework helps guide that testing in a controlled and repeatable way.

A third example was the “9 Box A3 HAPI Project – Identifying and preventing hospital acquired pressure injuries.” Improving processes associated with HAPI was a focus for our entire VISN last year and this booth challenged attendees to use newly improved processes to find ‘pressure injuries’ on a mannequin using a blacklight and blacklight activated ink. Participants learned the intricacies of identifying pressure injuries, what qualified as a pressure injury, and ways that the Phoenix VA is preventing our Veterans from experiencing pressure injuries while they’re in our care.

By hosting this expo, the Phoenix VA reinforces dedication to zero harm, continuous process improvement, and a culture of safety – key elements of a highly reliable organization.