Providence Alaska Medical Center (PAMC) has been recognized by VHA Inc., the national health care alliance, for improving team performance with its Rapid Response Team. PAMC is the only hospital in the state to earn recognition from VHA for performance improvement activities.
PAMC won the Performance Improvement Team Award for its implementation of the Providence Early Assessment Team (PEAT), a Rapid Response Team designed to prevent cardiac arrests and other emergent situations in eight major care units throughout the hospital. Since PEAT’s inception in February 2006, cardiac arrests on those units have decreased from 3.2 to 1.2 per 1,000 hospital discharges, more than a 50 percent reduction. Nurses and physicians can call the team any time and for any reason. Timely recognition of changing or deteriorating patient condition and effective action is key to preventing cardiac arrests and other undesirable outcomes. Thus far, PEAT has been called into action more than 275 times. “PEAT is part of a nation-wide initiative to improve hospital quality and save lives,” said Dr. Roy Davis, Chief Medical Officer at PAMC. “It is such a simple, yet effective way to enhance clinical teamwork, communication and outcomes.” VHA works with more than 1,400 hospitals nationwide, including PAMC. VHA focuses on helping hospitals improve their supply chain performance and clinical performance, helping its members identify and implement best practices in these areas and encouraging members to learn from one another through ongoing collaborative networks. Most of these networks occur at the regional level. VHA hospitals in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington work with each other on these issues through VHA networks. VHA’s regional office in Pleasanton, Calif., coordinates these activities and the awards for the VHA West Coast members. VHA recognized PAMC and other hospitals in these Western states for their individual improvement efforts and for their use of VHA resources to drive improvements. VHA (formerly Volunteer Hospitals of America) is dedicated to the success of not-for-profit, community-based health care. As a health care provider alliance we deliver industry-leading supply chain management services and facilitate the development of networks that bring members together to solve key clinical and operational challenges. |
