Pierre M. Barker

I have had the privilege of being at the side of my father, my mother, and my mother-in-law during the last weeks and days of their lives. Although I am a physician, my medical training didn’t fully prepare me for these moments. The insights and skills provided to me by The Conversation Project and the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement have helped me profoundly when having important conversations about what matters to my family members ahead of and during these critical times.

AI has a potentially transformative role to play in health care. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is dedicated to sharing what we are learning as we focus on the intersection of Generative Artificial Intelligence (generative AI), Large Language Models (LLMs), and Quality Improvement (QI). IHI faculty Gareth S. Kantor, MD, and Senior Research Associate Marina Renton, MPhil, recently facilitated a webinar that sparked a rich discussion with participants.

A national QI initiative to prevent HAIs in critical care settings dramatically reduced harm, saved millions, and can serve as a model for other low- and middle-income countries facing similar challenges. While the primary goal of health care-associated infection (HAI) quality improvement (QI) interventions is to prevent harm and death, this work can also result in sizeable cost reductions for the health systems.