MARCH 28 , 2005
—Kingston, NY
Benedictine Hospital announced today that it has joined the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s save a 100,000 Lives Campaign. This initiative is the first-ever national campaign to promote saving a specified number of lives by a certain date, using proven healthcare improvement methods. IHI hopes to enlist up to 2000 U.S. hospitals over 18 months. The campaign is already more than half-way to that goal in the remarkably short period of only two months.
The Campaign was formally unveiled on December 14, 2004, by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement 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, and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, among others.
“The momentum that is building behind this campaign is truly extraordinary,” said Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, President and CEO of IHI. “The health care community recognizes that dramatic quality improvement is possible and is coming together to achieve it. The goal of saving 100,000 lives is literally achievable by June 14, 2006.”
A full list of the hospitals and health care systems that have joined the Campaign is available at www.ihi.org/IHI/Programs/Campaign/.
Thomas A. Dee, President and CEO of Benedictine Hospital said that “we are very pleased to support all of these very worthwhile initiatives. We feel that these areas will go a long way in helping increase patient safety, which is our number one priority.”
In addition, 36 other health care organizations (medical associations, health care quality organizations, health care foundations, and councils) have joined the Campaign as partners. These include the state hospital associations from Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Washington, Minnesota, and New York.
Benedictine Hospital will commit to implementing 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 (even for unrelated illnesses) be compiled and reconciled to ensure that the patient is given (or prescribed) 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.
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 Boston, 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.