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The goal of this project was to reduce the number of injection errors occurring at the hospital's primary care clinics. After an increase of injection errors, it was determined that a standardized process was not developed after the implementation of the electronic health record. The project…
The C. diff collaborative is an ongoing initiative that was developed to improve the early identification and treatment of patients during acute inpatient hospitalization. One goal was to develop early identification of 'community onset' C. diff. Another goal of this project was to decrease health-…
The project catalyst noted inconsistencies in providing diagnosis-related, evidence-based interventions to all applicable patients. This resulted in varied patient outcomes. In February 2013, the readmissions team, in conjunction with the hospital's home health agency, implemented 10…
Blood transfusions to treat anemia can have a significant impact on patient outcomes. It was recognized that transfusion practices varied among health care providers; many clinicians question the best practice for blood product use. With today's limited supply of blood products and increasing…
Falls prevention continues to be a focus on all patient units and is a priority for safe care throughout the organization. The fall prevention program ensures that patients at risk for a fall have all necessary interventions in place throughout their stay in the hospital to mitigate risk for injury…
The goal of this project was to reduce the amount of global office visits by using Lean Six Sigma methodologies. Process defects were identified in patient education discharge instructions. Key improvements included development and implementation of diagnosis-specific discharge instructions and…
An accurate home medication list serves as the 'source of truth' for the entire process of medication reconciliation. The hospital's home medication lists were found to be inaccurate 100 percent of the time and the organization lacked a systematic, evidence-based process for gathering a home…
Hypoglycemia can cause considerable harm to patients including the potential for falls, seizures, coma, and contributes to increased mortality and length of stay. The goal was to decrease the time it takes to resolve a hypoglycemic blood glucose reading to 30 minutes in a cardiovascular surgical…
The link between excessive work hours and adverse errors is inseparable. This project investigated if work hour guidelines and education had an impact on nurse work hours, fatigue management and patient outcomes. New hospital guidelines proposed employees do not work more than three, 12-hour shifts…
The goal of this project was to decrease the utilization rates of indwelling urinary catheters and ultimately decrease rates of catheter-associated urinary tract infections. During the eight quarters prior to project implementation, 33 percent of nursing units did not outperform the National…