The West Virginia Healthcare Safety, Quality and Experience Improvement Research Day, or QI Fair, continues to grow bigger and better every year. The annual event was held on February 28 in the West Virginia University Health Sciences Center Pylons lobby.
The research fair is designed to improve outcomes for WVU Medicine patients and their families while highlighting the research that University researchers, clinical faculty, students and employees undertake to improve patient safety.
The event, which is hosted by the WVU School of Medicine, includes WVU Medicine and all five schools in WVU Health Sciences aims to foster collaboration, learning, and future collaborations by providing a platform for participants to prepare and present oral and poster presentations and meet with fellow researchers from across the system.
Some key improvements from this year's event include the use of QI tools, standardized poster sizes, increased participation from experienced professionals and a live stream of the event, so participation did not have to be in-person. Additionally, the event now offers CME credits for physicians, nurses and dentists. The goal is to expand the event's reach and maintain high standards for presentations.
“There are always new things happening,” WVU Medicine Health System Associate Chief Quality Officer and Pediatric Hospital Medicine professor Sharda Udassi, MD, FAA, FISQua, CMQ, said. “The ultimate goal is ongoing, learning from each other and working to be at the cutting edge of healthcare. I always say healthcare excellence is our North Star. Healthcare safety and quality improvement are the paths that are going to lead to that North Star of excellence in healthcare that we want to achieve.”
Dr. Udassi said she was very impressed by the upgrade in the quality of work and how participants are learning how to present healthcare, safety, quality improvement and experience improvement. She said she is already looking forward to next year’s QI Fair.
Poster competition
The first-place winner for the poster competition was titled, “Palpating the PULSE of WVU Internal Medicine Residents: Improving Access to POCUS,” and was presented by Nolan Holley, MD and team- Josephine Reece, MD and Jenna Sizemore, MD.
The project, which was initiated in July 2024, focused on improving access to handheld ultrasound devices for WVU internal medicine resident physicians. The devices help physicians perform more accurate bedside assessments, especially in busy or resource-limited settings. They explored the barriers residents face in using point-of-care ultrasound and created a structured plan to improve access, training and confidence.
The project initially began when internal medicine residents were surveyed on their perceptions of POCUS. Additionally, this is when internal medicine residents were able to purchase three handheld ultrasounds through the Department of Medicine. Since then, Since then, the project has involved developing and analyzing surveys, coordinating training sessions, collecting feedback and creating the quality improvement framework.
“I feel incredibly honored and humbled,” Dr. Holley said. “There were so many wonderful projects at the QI fair, and to have ours recognized in this way means the world to us. I’m deeply thankful to the Department of Medicine for believing in this initiative and for generously funding the handheld ultrasound devices that made this work possible. Winning is exciting, but more than anything, I am grateful for the chance to possibly contribute to something that might make a lasting impact on how we care for patients as internal medicine physicians. I could not
have asked for a better team. I’m thankful to Dr. Sizemore and Dr. Reece for being incredible mentors by challenging me to think critically, using their experience to help refine project goals, and offered constant encouragement. Additionally, I’m thankful to Jesse Thompson, Ph.D. for being pivotal in teaching me about the fundamentals of quality improvement and development of quality improvement initiatives, as I had very little experience in this area prior to residency.”
Oral presentations
The first-place winner of the oral presentation was Autumn Kiefer, MD and team Donna Householder, RN; Devon McMillion, RN; Sharon Griffith, APRN-BC; Christopher Deskins, M.D. and Pavithra Ellison, M.D. The presentation was titled, “Implementation of a Standardized Handover Between Anesthesia and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit,” and focused on the results of a quality improvement collaboration between the two units.
Dr. Kiefer said her team worked to standardize the communication between the NICU and Anesthesia teams when babies go to and return from surgery. Standardizing handovers, when a patient’s primary medical team changes, reduces medical errors. Their quality improvement work started in 2019 and involved several improvement cycles, as the teams refined the key information that each team needed and found the best ways to communicate efficiently.
“The beauty of QI is that it’s all about the practical, everyday workflow,” Dr. Kiefer said. “Our project focused specifically on making something that was shown in previous research- the value of a standardized handover in reducing medical errors- into a workable solution for patient care in our hospital. Working together on this project helped build bridges for more collaboration between the NICU and anesthesia teams. We work well together because we both care for critically ill babies.”
For more information and to view the complete list of winners, visit the QI Fair website. To view all of the 2025 QI Fair presentations, click here.