Patient Safety and Quality Award Winners Announced
The Joint Commission and The National Quality Forum announced winners of the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety and Quality. Winners were named for each of the four award categories: Individual Achievement, Research, Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the National Level, and Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the Local Level, according to the press release issued by the Joint Commission.
Two recipients were named for the Individual Achievement Award, Flaura Koplin Winston, M.D., Ph.D. and Darrell A. Campbell, Jr., M.D. Dr. Winston was recognized for her lifelong commitment to safety and prevention for children during motor vehicle accidents, combining psychologic, public health, and bioengineering approaches to reduce such. Dr. Campbell was honored for his ongoing commitment to quality improvement efforts, particularly in surgery, from the local to state and national endeavors.
Eric J.Thompson, M.D., M.P.H. received an award for research in quality and patient safety. Dr. Thompson has created a well respected portfolio of work referenced by agencies such as the World Health Organization and the Institute of Medicine. His work examined incident reporting, creating cultures to improve safety, and the epidemiology of adverse events and errors.
The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center of the Harvard Medical School received recognition for their national quality and safety efforts. The facility employed an adaptation of the Crew Resource Management principles used in aviation. The facility had a 25 percent decrease in adverse events in the obstetrics department, where the effort was employed As described previously on Hospital Buyer, the organization implemented a a hospital-wide effort to improve communication, modify monitoring protocols, and implement teamwork training for staff. The organization also received an award from the Massachusetts Blue Cross in April for that program.
Evanston Northwestern Healthcare was noted for their quality and safety innovation locally. The organization implemented a surveillance program for MRSA at the time of admission, the first universal program of its kind. Improvements noted include prevention of 5o MRSA cases and a 62 percent reduction in the incidence of MRSA. The simple program can be implemented at any facility and has proven to be cost effective.
September 28, 2007 Related topics: Facilities, Partnerships & Consortia, Quality, Safety, Errors