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Veterans Affairs Western NY Healthcare System Reduces the Rate of Codes from 23.8 per 1,000 Discharges to 8.1 per 1,000 in 17 Months
The Rapid Response Team at Veterans Affairs Western New York Healthcare System (Buffalo, New York, USA) receives an average of 10 calls each month and has achieved great success in saving patient lives.
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Early Warning Systems: Scorecards That Save Lives
The Early Warning Scoring System (EWSS), experts say, could yield even more benefits for patients and hospitals by identifying deteriorating patients even earlier than a single-parameter approach such as a Rapid Response Team.
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The Sound of Two Hands Washing: Improving Hand Hygiene
Regularly washing one’s hands is widely promoted by everyone from mothers to infection control officers to the World Health Organization as an effective means of keeping germs and illness at bay.
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Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia: Getting to Zero…and Staying There
Clinical evidence shows that by meticulously following a care protocol that includes keeping the patient’s head elevated and discontinuing ventilator use as soon as possible, hospitals can virtually eliminate ventilator-associated pneumonia.
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What Is a Bundle?
IHI Vice President and patient safety expert, Carol Haraden, PhD, clarifies what a “bundle” is and is not, and suggests tips for using bundles most effectively to get results in improvement initiatives. While the allure of this tool is undeniable, says Haraden, quality teams should resist the impulse to label any list of good changes a bundle.
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Rapid Response Teams: Reducing Codes and Raising Morale
In addition to their significant value as a clinical tool, Rapid Response Teams are also changing hospital culture. With a focus on shared learning and empowering (and encouraging) staff to ask for help, Rapid Response Teams are expected to have a positive impact on nursing recruitment, retention, and satisfaction.
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Reducing Length of Stay in Intensive Care
Conwy and Denbighshire NHS Trust (North Wales, UK) have halved the average length of stay in the ICU and consequently increased patient throughput by 33.5 percent (an additional 254 patients).
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IHI.org Story: Children Count in the 100,000 Lives Campaign
In pediatrics, there's a growing use of Rapid Response Teams — teams of clinicians who bring critical care expertise to the bedside (or wherever it is needed) at the first sign that the patient’s condition may be deteriorating, intervening before a medical crisis can occur.
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Creating and Implementing a Bundle to Reduce VAP in the NICU
Central DuPage Hospital (Winfield, Illinois, USA) reduced ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) from a rate of 13.02 in 2004 to a rate of 5.43 in 2005 by implementing a neonatal ventilator bundle, reducing accidental extubations and a reinforcing handwashing.
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Early Nursing Intervention: Beyond Rapid Response Teams
Rochester General Hospital (Rochester, New York, USA) reduced codes on general care units by 50 percent by implementing an Early Nursing Intervention Team program to reduce adverse patient events, a process of nurse-to-nurse consultation used when the floor nurse is concerned about a patient.
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