Patricia A. Rutherford is a Vice President at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). She is responsible for developing and leading innovations in the following areas: Transforming Care at the Bedside; Optimizing Care Coordination and Transitions in Care; Clinical Office Practice Redesign; Improving Efficiency and Flow in Hospitals, Specialty Practices and Outpatient Settings; and Innovations in Patient-Centered Care. She was the Project Director for the -funded Transforming Care at the Bedside Initiative (2003-2008), funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and she is currently the co-investigator for the STate Action on Avoidable Rehospitalizations (STAAR) initiative, funded by The Commonwealth Fund. Her skills include knowledge of process improvement, innovation, and idealized design; coaching clinicians, staff, and senior leaders in organizations on process improvement; and management of all aspects of large scale performance improvement initiatives.
Prior to her work at IHI, she worked 21 years at Children’s Hospital in Boston, MA. She has provided leadership for the Department of Nursing’s quality improvement endeavors and interdisciplinary process improvement initiatives. She lead initiatives to redesign care delivery and make improvements in inpatient and outpatient programs.
