Quality

We believe that caring for children is a both a privilege and a great responsibility. The Duke Department of Pediatrics is committed to providing the best possible care to every patient and family, and raising the bar for the quality of pediatric health care across the country.
Duke Pediatrics Quality Program logo

Our vision is to advance the health of children by achieving the quadruple aim of better outcomes, improved clinician experience, lower cost, and improved patient experience.

Our work focuses on improving:

  • Patient and family-centered care
  • Health equity outcomes
  • Efficiency of care
  • Application of research & evidence-based care
  • Multidisciplinary collaboration and teamwork
  • Use of structured methodologies and data-driven approaches
  • Capability of faculty, trainees, and staff to use improvement science methods
  • Employee satisfaction and workforce development
  • Alignment with institutional goals and programs

Our American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) Portfolio Sponsor program is designed to reduce the quality improvement (QI) project application burden for eligible pediatricians seeking MOC credit for their work.

American Board of Pediatrics MOC information

Duke Pediatrics MOC information (NetID required)

quality improvement

Introduction to Quality Improvement

This interactive, web-based module introduces key concepts and tools used in health care quality improvement.

Explore the module

Improvement Science Leadership Course (ISLC)

The ISLC, sponsored by the Department of Pediatrics, is a nine-month program that aims to develop faculty with intermediate competency in improvement science methods to execute academic healthcare quality improvement and lead improvement teams.

About the ISLC (NetID required)

Duke Pediatrics Quality Program improvement science leadership course

Our Pediatric Clinical Pathways program incorporates evidence-based research, best practice, and local expert consensus into standardized pathways for use by clinical teams at the point of care to facilitate the delivery of high-quality medical care.

Duke Children’s Infant Fever Pathway example

More about Pediatric Clinical Pathways (NetID required)

Duke Pediatrics Quality Program clinical pathway development logo

2023 Quality & Safety Conference

This annual conference celebrates work in quality improvement, safety, and teamwork across the Duke University Health System. Every year, our department joins hundreds of Duke Health employees to recognize, evaluate, learn, and advance health together.

Duke faculty and staff: Visit our intranet to see publications and videos from the conference (NetID required)

Duke Pediatrics Safe Sleep Task Force

The Duke Safe Sleep Task Force, established in 2019, is a multidisciplinary team of physicians and nurses from all pediatric units at Duke University Hospital (DUH). Led by co-chairs Sophie Shaikh, MD, and Kristina Nazareth-Pidgeon, MD, the program focuses on promoting safe sleep for patients under 1 year old. In addition to implementing a safe sleep policy, the task force prioritizes staff and parental education.

Recent publications

Shaikh S, Chamberlain L, Nazareth-Pidgeon K, Boggan J. Quality improvement initiative to improve infant safe sleep practices in the newborn nursery. BMJ Open Quality. 2022;11. e001834. 10.1136/bmjoq-2022-001834.

Nazareth-Pidgeon KM, Chamberlain L, Shaikh SK. Improving infant safe sleep practices in the newborn nursery. Pediatrics. February 2022;149(1 Meeting Abstracts February 2022):553.

News articles

Emily Sterrett, MD
Emily Sterrett, MD

Emily Sterrett, MD (and other members of her team part of a Duke Institute for Health Innovation award), participated in a two-part “Tradeoffs” podcast, “Rooting out Health Care Bias in AI.”

Listen to part one and part two of podcast

Duke University Health System participates in many national and state performance measure programs to help us improve our care and help our patients and families make informed choices about their care. Our ongoing quality assurance efforts ensure compliance with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Joint Commission standards.

Explore descriptions and links to these programs below.

The Joint Commission

The Joint Commission (TJC) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that evaluates and accredits more than 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States.

All Duke University Health System entities are accredited by the TJC. The data available from TJC on quality and safety are collected through on-site inspections and from the patients' medical records.

Leapfrog

Leapfrog is a program driven by employer groups and other purchasers of health care. Leapfrog reports on four areas of quality and safety: computerized physician order entry, evidence-based hospital referrals, high-risk treatments, and safe practices.

Healthgrades

Healthgrades gathers information on hospitals and physicians to provide quality ratings for common procedures and treatments.