Indianapolis hospitals cited as national model for patient safety
June 14, 2006
Contact: Todd Harper
Phone: 317-630-7808
Pager: 317-310-5972
Indianapolis - The Indianapolis Coalition for Patient Safety, a consortium of six hospital systems in Central Indiana, announced today that after 18 months of participation in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s landmark 100,000 Lives Campaign, major Indianapolis hospitals have worked together to dramatically improve how patients are cared for when they’re most at risk for infection, complications and adverse outcomes.
Initially launched in December of 2004, the 100,000 Lives Campaign is the first-ever national campaign to promote saving a specified number of lives in hospitals by a certain date (June 14, 2006) through the implementation of proven, evidence-based, practices and procedures.
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement formally announced this morning that the 100,000 Lives Campaign has exceeded the original goal. Hospitals enrolled in the campaign have collectively prevented an estimated 122, 300 avoidable deaths and, as importantly, have begun to institutionalize new standards of care that will continue to save lives and improve health outcomes into the future.
Dr. Donald Berwick, IHI’s president and chief executive officer, today cited the Indianapolis coalition for its leadership in the national campaign. “The outstanding work of the Indianapolis Coalition for Patient Safety is a prime example of how collaboration is accelerating change. This city-wide initiative among very competitive organizations is a national model for community-based process improvement and we commend Indianapolis for its leadership on improving patient safety,” Berwick said.
The Indianapolis Coalition for Patient Safety comprises major hospitals in Central Indiana, one of the most competitive markets in the nation, and was created as a method by which the hospitals can work together to achieve a roadmap for continuous improvement efforts regarding patient safety. The idea behind the Coalition was to ensure that within the competitive environment, patient care was still a primary mission of all the institutions. The Coalition is a unique collaborative network of the hospitals’ chief medical, nursing and executive officers, as well as pharmacists and safety experts. The aim of the group is to improve patient care on a myriad of levels. Despite a competitive Indianapolis health care market, standardized efforts to ensure patient safety will be among the best in the nation, no matter which of these hospitals consumers choose for care.
Major elements of the roadmap include a culture of safety, medication safety, procedural safety and clinical initiatives.
Indianapolis’ major hospital systems in the coalition (Clarian Health Partners, Community Health Network, St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers, St. Vincent Health, Wishard Health Services, Roudebush VA Medical Center) have committed to and implemented the following practices:
- Activate a Rapid Response Team at the first sign that a patient’s condition is worsening and may lead to a more serious medical emergency.
- Prevent patients from dying of heart attacks by delivering evidence-based care, including appropriate administration of aspirin to prevent blood clots and Beta blockers to prevent further heart attacks.
- Prevent medication errors by ensuring that accurate and continually updated lists of patients’ medications are referenced during their hospital stay, particularly at transition points.
- Prevent patients who are receiving medicines and fluids through central lines from developing infections by following five steps, including proper hand washing and cleaning the patient’s skin with “chlorhexidine” (a type of soap).
- Prevent patients undergoing surgery from developing infections by following a series of steps, including the timely administration of antibiotics.
- Prevent patients on ventilators from developing pneumonia by following four steps, including raising the head of the patient’s bed between 30 and 40 degrees.
Each hospital led a clinical work group to address one of the above interventions. These groups included nurses, pharmacists, doctors and other care givers in an effort to share strategies of success for implementation.
The accomplishments of the 100,000 Lives Campaign nationally include the enrollment of over 3,000 hospitals – comprising an estimated 75 percent of the acute care hospital beds in the country – and the creation of a national infrastructure of Campaign field offices that offer resources and support to participating hospitals throughout the US. In Indiana, 93 percent of short term acute hospitals are enrolled in the Campaign.
The Indianapolis Coalition for Patient Safety has committed to implementing more patient safety standards that reach well beyond the six interventions at the heart of the 100,000 Lives Campaign. While the hospitals will continue to participate in the national initiative, they will also work together to provide standardization across the hospitals in the areas of correct site surgery (marking the surgery site with the same symbol); “time out” (a universal protocol whereby the medical team pauses to check correct patient identification, surgery site, etc.); glycemic control (keeping a patient’s blood sugar stable pre and post surgery to prevent infections); and armband colors for patients (using one color code to mean the same thing in all hospitals, for example, allergies).
The 3,000 hospitals participating in the 100,000 Lives Campaign are located in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Please visit www.ihi.org/campaign to learn more about the Campaign or to see a full list of participating hospitals (by state). The 100,000 Lives Campaign is supported through unrestricted philanthropy from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the Cardinal Health Foundation, the Colorado Trust, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Rx Foundation, Baxter International, the Blue Shield of California Foundation, and the Leeds Family Foundation. National aggregate case-mix data and analysis supporting the Campaign’s “lives saved” calculation is generously provided, without restriction for use, by CareScience (a QUOVADX division) and Solucient.
About The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is a not-for-profit organization leading the improvement of health care throughout the world. Founded in 1991 and based in Cambridge, MA, IHI is a catalyst for change, cultivating innovative concepts for improving patient care and implementing programs for putting those ideas into action. Thousands of health care providers, including many of the finest hospitals in the world, participate in IHI’s groundbreaking work.
About the Indianapolis Coalition for Patient Safety
The Indianapolis Coalition for Patient Safety, formed in early 2003, is a regional consortium of health care leaders committed to advancing patient safety efforts. The Coalition membership includes 13 hospitals in six health care systems in Indianapolis, as well as stakeholders who purchase, insure, support or educate the health care community. The working partners include the chief executive, medical and nursing officers and directors of pharmacy and patient safety from each of the Indianapolis hospital systems. Deans of the Schools of Medicine, nursing and pharmacy and directors from county and state government, Eli Lilly and major insurers also collaborate. Through their shared vision, the Indianapolis health care community has accelerated the pace of patient safety improvement in Indianapolis.