Mayo Clinic Key In To Quality

This episode of Key in to Quality highlights how a Mayo Clinic inpatient care team transformed its approach to workplace violence and behavioral safety through a structured, multidisciplinary response model. As verbal threats, physical aggression and behavioral escalations increased — particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic — the team recognized that the challenge was not a lack of compassion...

In this episode of Key in to Quality, the team explores how hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) delivers care in a highly specialized environment where oxygen is the treatment, and how safety is highlighted in this environment. Because HBOT combines elevated oxygen levels and pressure, risks such as fire hazards and equipment failures require rigorous safety systems, disciplined processes and constan...

In this episode of Key in to Quality, Dr. Andrew Bowman, Dr. Nelly Tan, Jacob Varner, and Dyan DeYoung discuss how a multidisciplinary Radiology Patient Experience team across Mayo Clinic sites created a scalable approach to listening to patients and improving care. Recognizing that radiology lacked a consistent way to measure patient experience, the team launched a simple post-visit feedback syst...

In this episode of Key In to Quality , Jodi Miller discusses Mayo Clinic’s Concierge Financial Navigation program. Designed to support people receiving complex, high-cost care, the program connects patients with trusted financial advocates who explain insurance coverage, resolve billing issues, address denials, and secure copay, grant, and premium assistance. What began as a pilot for hematology a...

This episode of Key in to Quality explores Mayo Clinic’s Hospital at Home program, an innovative model delivering 24/7 acute-level care in patients’ homes. Wendelyn Bosch, M.D., and Laila Hakam, M.D., discuss how digital tools, remote monitoring, and coordinated multidisciplinary teams make this possible at scale. Originally developed to address hospital capacity challenges, the program expanded r...

This episode of Key in to Quality explores psychological safety in residency training, and why it’s foundational to patient safety, team performance, and joy at work. Experts from Mayo Clinic Arizona describe how Culture of Safety Survey results and root cause analyses surfaced a recurring risk: residents hesitated to ask questions or escalate concerns in real time, often due to hierarchy and fear...

This episode of Mayo Clinic Key in to Quality focuses on a core insight from patient experience research. Patients judge care through two lenses: warmth and competence. Host Tim Morgenthaler and cohost Sheri Nemec speak with Chris Malone, author and founder of Fidelum Health, and Mayo Clinic’s Laurie Wilshusen about how trust forms and why small, human cues can create outsized impact. The discussi...

This episode examines a hospital-wide hypoglycemia management protocol at Mayo Clinic. Recognizing the serious impact of inpatient hypoglycemia, a multidisciplinary team launched a prevention-focused protocol inspired by 2020 ADA guidelines.  Their initial strategy was to intervene at glucose levels below 90 mg/dL to prevent low blood sugar before it occurred. However, real-world data revealed uni...

What turns a routine visit into a meaningful patient relationship? In this episode of Key in to Quality, Erica Tung, M.D., and Eric Nelson, manager of patient experience at Mayo Clinic Health System, explore how provider communication shapes the lived experience of patients. Drawing on insights from clinicians who have achieved sustained excellence in patient experience, they discuss why communica...

This episode of Key in to Quality asks a simple but profound question: what if the way we talk with patients could transform their care and our own experience as clinicians? Clear, empathic communication builds trust, improves diagnostic accuracy, and tightens adherence and relationships. Mayo Clinic’s Communication in Health Care program treats communication as a core clinical competency, not an...

Post-pandemic shifts to virtual, abbreviated onboarding have left many new staff feeling isolated, less confident, and more likely to burn out. In this episode of Key in to Quality, listeners get a peek into what’s working at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. A nursing team developed an enculturation toolkit designed to intentionally root new nurses in Mayo Clinic’s mission, values, and cultural heritage. T...

Healthcare safety often focuses on what went wrong, but what about the moments when harm is stopped before it ever reaches the patient? In this Key in to Quality episode, host Tim Morgenthaler, M.D., and co-host Sheri Nemec talk with Shari Ochoa, M.D., Ashley Stapp, and Beth Terrio from Mayo Clinic Arizona about the Good Catch “safety in action” program. They describe how a grassroots idea launche...

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections remain one of the most common yet preventable hospital-acquired infections. In this Key in to Quality episode, host Dr. Tim Morgenthaler, M.D., and co-host Sheri Nemec ask a simple question with big implications: What if we treated every urinary catheter like a high-risk medication? Guests Hari Korsapati, M.D., Regional Director for Hospital Quality and...

Falls don’t just happen at home or in the hospital. In busy ambulatory clinics, patients can stumble in waiting rooms, hallways, and exam rooms with serious consequences. In this episode of Key In to Quality , vice chair of Quality Tim Morgenthaler, M.D., talks with Steven Kochan, D.N.P., R.N., chair of the Rochester Fall Injury Prevention Subcommittee for Ambulatory Practice, and Lloyd Speer, man...

Can we prevent bathroom falls without losing privacy? Hospital bathrooms are among the riskiest places for inpatient falls...and also the most personal. In this episode of Key in to Quality, Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Allyson Palmer, Amberly Hess, and Cari Guttormson unpack a new initiative designed to prevent bathroom-related falls without sacrificing privacy or independence. The team walks through practi...

What if every patient had a built-in safety partner? In this episode of Key in to Quality, Safe Patient Handling Coordinator Kelly Drilling explains merging fall prevention and handling into one safety mobility champion role. Frontline champion Marissa Cocker describes day-to-day impact on a neurosurgery floor, helping patients mobilize sooner and guiding colleagues on the right equipment. The tea...

In this episode of Key In to Quality, Dr. Laura Breeher and nurse administrator Paul Lorentz share how Mayo Clinic integrated safe patient handling and falls prevention into one multidisciplinary structure that serves patients and employees alike. The conversation explores scaling for smaller hospitals, engaging non-nursing roles like transport staff, and designing future care environments (from f...

Safety Huddles and Visual Management: A Creative Fusion for Healthcare Culture of Safety How can healthcare teams strengthen communication and create a safer environment for patients and staff alike? In this episode of Key In to Quality , hosts Dr. Tim Morgenthaler and Sheri Nemec are joined by Dr. Charles (Chase) Sims, chair of the Rochester Quality Subcommittee at Mayo Clinic, to explore how tie...

In this second installment of Key In to Quality’s sepsis series, we turn the spotlight on Mayo Clinic Florida. Sepsis, which affects 1.7 million Americans each year, demands rapid recognition and treatment—yet delays remain common and deadly. Devang Sanghavi, M.D. and Kristine Thompson, M.D. detail how their team tackled the challenge by combining artificial intelligence with human expertise. Thei...

In this episode of Key in to Quality, we hear from the leaders behind the CARES initiative (Champions Advancing Racial Equity in Sepsis), a national effort tackling long-standing disparities in sepsis care. Black and Latinx patients are more likely to experience delays in treatment and worse outcomes, including higher mortality. CARES is working to change that through coalition-based leadership an...

In Part 2 of our delirium-focused series, Key in to Quality returns to Mayo Clinic Arizona, where a startling statistic revealed that two-thirds of workplace assaults involved confused patients. Behind the numbers were moments of staff trauma and missed care opportunities. This episode follows the multidisciplinary team that turned insight into action: creating a Kaizen event, developing practical...

Addressing Delirium: A Path for Preventing Workplace Violence How can healthcare workers truly feel safe when they’ve been conditioned to believe enduring workplace violence is “just part of the job”? On this Key In to Quality podcast episode, we dive into an often-overlooked issue that directly impacts hospital safety: delirium.  Our guests Chris Scheuler, manager of the Mayo Clinic Arizona Workp...

Patient safety experts Dr. Abigail La Nou, Jami Zwiefelhofer, and Katie McFadyen, share valuable insights and strategies for creating a workplace where healthcare professionals can express themselves without fear of judgment, disagree, ask questions, and acknowledge mistakes without worrying about repercussions. The podcast emphasizes the need to flatten hierarchies in medicine to promote open com...

In this episode of Key In to Quality, hosts Dr. Tim Morgenthaler and Sheri Nemec explore how Mayo Clinic is revolutionizing quality improvement (QI) education through the flipped classroom model. Joined by Dr. Pablo Moreno Franco and Sandy Booth from Mayo Clinic’s Quality Academy, the discussion unpacks how this interactive, learner-centered format engages clinicians, residents, and administrators...

Most of us are familiar with therapy animals, but have you ever wondered what the research says about how these animals can positively impact the patient experience? In this episode of the Key In to Quality podcast, co-hosts Dr. Timothy Morgenthaler and Sheri Nemec sit down with Whitney Romine, Animal-Assisted Services Manager at Mayo Clinic, to explore how animal-assisted services are transformin...