At 770-bed Tallahassee Memorial Hospital in Tallahassee, Florida, a participant in the Pursuing Perfection initiative, fewer people are dying than ever before. This is thanks to the hospital’s sharp focus on reducing mortality. Between 2001 and 2004, the hospital’s unadjusted mortality rate fell from 2.08 to 1.64, a drop of 21 percent.
Contributing to the overall drop in mortality was a 53 percent decrease in deaths from heart attacks; 62 percent fewer deaths from heart failure; 41 percent reduction in death from stroke; and a 46 percent decrease in the number of deaths from pneumonia.
Tallahassee has implemented all six of the interventions recommended by IHI’s 100,000 Lives Campaign, which has helped them address many of the issues they uncovered when their analysis of 50 unexpected deaths showed a pattern of three problems: failure to communicate, failure to recognize when a patient’s condition was worsening and take action, and failure to plan.
“IHI taught us to look at improvement systematically rather than by diagnosis,” says Winnie Schmeling, PhD, RN, former Vice President of Organizational Improvement and Planning and executive-in-charge of Pursuing Perfection. “If you fix the system, you’re addressing the issues more broadly. As a result, our mortality rate is down among all the leading conditions.”
More Information
Pursuing Perfection: Report from Tallahassee on Reducing Mortality
Rapid Response Teams: The Case for Early Intervention
Report from Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare on Enhancing Continuity of Care
01/16/2006
