 Providence Alaska Medical Center has joined the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 100,000 Lives Campaign, the first-ever national campaign to save 100,000 lives by implementing proven health care improvement techniques. The campaign aims to enlist more than 1,600 hospitals across the country in the next 18 months to reach this goal.
The campaign was formally unveiled on December 14, 2004, and has already been endorsed by such distinguished health care organizations as the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and the North Carolina State Hospital Association; and by such noteworthy health care providers as Ascension Health, SSM Health Care, and the Veterans Health Administration. “We are organizing a world-class campaign to elect quality,” said Dr. Donald Berwick, President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). “The health care organizations that join this campaign are not only demonstrating their commitment to improvement but their determination to put proven, life-saving improvement techniques into action.” Health care facilities that choose to participate in the Campaign commit to implement some or all of the following six quality improvement changes: •Deploy Rapid Response Teams – by allowing any staff member, regardless of position in the chain of command, to call upon a specialty team to examine a patient at the first sign of decline. • Deliver Reliable Evidence-Based Care for Acute Myocardial Infarction – by consistently delivering key measures - including early administration of aspirin and beta-blockers that prevent patient deaths from heart attack. •Prevent Adverse Drug Events – by implementing medication reconciliation, which requires that a list of all of a patient’s medications be compiled and reconciled to ensure that the patient is given the right medications at the correct dosages - at admission, discharge and before transferring a patient to another care unit. • Prevent Central Line Infections – by consistently delivering five interdependent, scientifically grounded steps collectively called the “Central Line Bundle.” • Prevent Surgical Site Infections – by reliably delivering the correct perioperative antibiotics, maintaining glucose levels and avoiding shaving hair at the surgical site. • Prevent Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia by implementing five interdependent, scientifically grounded steps collectively called the “Ventilator Bundle” such as elevating the head of the hospital bed by 30 degrees thereby dramatically reducing mortality and length of stay in the Intensive Care Unit. We can also each do our part to improve the safety of patient care by following the seven patient safety goals:
1. Improve the Accuracy of Patient Identification
2. Improve the Effectiveness of Communication Among Caregivers
3. Improve the Safety of Using Medications
4. Improve the Safety of Using Infusion Pumps
5. Reduce the Risk of Health Care-Associated Infections
6. Accurately and Completely Reconcile Medications Across the Continuum of Care
7. Reduce the Risk of Patient Harm Resulting From Falls To learn more about the 100,000 Lives Campaign, please visit the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
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