Featured Impact Case Study: California Hospital Reduced Infections and Improved Diabetes Care With AHRQ Safety Program

Tri-City Medical Center, a 388-bed hospital in Oceanside, California, reduced central line-associated bloodstream infections by 33 percent and improved the on-time delivery of insulin to patients by 55 percent after changing patient care practices based on strategies from AHRQ’s Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program. Access the Impact Case Study.

The CUSP Method

The Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) is a method that can help clinical teams make care safer by combining improved teamwork, clinical best practices, and the science of safety. The Core CUSP toolkit gives clinical teams the training resources and tools to apply the CUSP method and build their capacity to address safety issues.

How To Use the CUSP Method

A number of toolkits are available to help clinical teams adopt the CUSP method to make care safer. Most teams will want to start with the Core CUSP Toolkit to learn key principles of the CUSP method. Once you’ve learned the basics, additional toolkits can help you target certain safety issues in specific settings of care.

Core CUSP Toolkit

Created for clinicians by clinicians, the Core CUSP toolkit is modular and modifiable to meet individual unit needs. Each module includes teaching tools and resources to support change at the unit level, presented through facilitator notes that take you step by step through the module, presentation slides, tools, and videos.

Page last reviewed March 2018
Page originally created December 2012

Internet Citation: The CUSP Method. Content last reviewed March 2018. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/education/curriculum-tools/cusptoolkit/index.html