Case Studies
The goal was to reduce the delay in patient care by reducing patient wait times, both from requested to scheduled time and at time of procedure. Process defects were identified as procedures in medical imaging that start greater than seven minutes after a scheduled start time, and a scheduled wait…
Maternal cardiac arrest is rare but often fatal. Obstetricians and perinatal nurses are often first responders with limited experience in managing primary cardiac arrest and ACLS pregnancy modifications. Multidisciplinary simulations improve performance in catastrophe management but few studies…
Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs direct judicious antimicrobial use to optimize patient outcomes and improve patient safety. New pharmacokinetic services were implemented as part of the medical center's ASP's patient safety initiatives to optimize antimicrobial dosing and also inline…
Antibiotic stewardship was implemented in 2011 and focuses on five 'D's': Drug, De-escalation of therapy, Discontinuation of therapy, Dose and Diagnosis. The pharmacy department automatically adjusts therapy based on patient's renal function and enforces restrictions on certain antibiotics. All of…
Perineal trauma during childbirth can lead to significant short- or long-term complications such as perineal pain, urinary and fecal incontinence, and sexual problems. Women have a right to safe care, and minimizing perineal trauma during childbirth will allow them to focus on bonding with their…
In December 2008, the hospital spotlighted national Hospital Quality Measures performance and found Surgical Care Improvement Project process measures were not met every time for all patients. Surgical site infections, an outcome of non-compliance, represented the largest number of hospital-…
The project catalyst noted inconsistencies in providing diagnosis-related, evidence-based interventions to all applicable patients. This resulted in varied patient care, patient outcomes and data consistency. In July 2011, the intensive care management team began the process to resolve the…
HPOE has teamed up with the Illinois Hospital Association to highlight its yearly quality awards. This year, three awards were presented the most effective quality improvement achievements for health care system, rural/critical access hospital and urban hospital.
This project was designed to improve the total health care for patients of a community mental health center and the local Federally Qualified Healthcare Center through the development of an integrated system of care. The target population was comprised of individuals with severe and persistent…
National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry guidelines for biomarkers of acute coronary syndrome and heart failure emphasize a need for rapid turnaround time—within 60 minutes—for troponin results. Prolonged troponin test results may delay recognition of cardiac injury and the initiation…