NEW ORLEANS, LA Ochsner Health System is one of 4,000 hospitals supporting a national initiative to protect patients from five million incidents of medical harm over a two year period (December 2006-December 2008). The 5 Million Lives campaign is sponsored by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).
5 Million Lives is an expansion of the highly successful 100,000 Lives Campaign, which included 3,100 hospitals and resulted in an estimated 122,000 lives saved in 18 months. This new campaign will be the largest improvement initiative undertaken in recent history by the health care industry and will include over 4,000 hospitals nationwide and 5 million patient lives.
With an ambitious agenda, Ochsner is committed to this program. Our patients expect and deserve nothing less, says Dr. William Pinsky, Executive Vice President for System Medical Affairs.
The fundamental principle for health care providers is primum non nocere first, do no harm. Despite the extraordinary hard work and best intentions of caregivers, nationwide, the risk of infections, adverse drug events, surgical errors, pressure sores, and other complications continues for many hospital patients.
Nationwide, there are many patient safety initiatives underway as a result of the 100,000 Lives Campaign:
- Deploy Rapid Response Teams&at;the first sign of patient decline
- Deliver Reliable, Evidence-Based Care for Acute Myocardial Infarction&to;prevent deaths from heart attack
- Prevent Adverse Drug Events (ADEs)&by;implementing medication reconciliation
- Prevent Central Line Infections&by;implementing a series of interdependent, scientifically grounded steps
- Prevent Surgical Site Infections&by;reliably delivering the correct perioperative antibiotics at the proper time
- Prevent Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia - by implementing a series of interdependent, scientifically grounded steps
- Prevent Harm from High-Alert Medications... starting with a focus on anticoagulants, sedatives, narcotics, and insulin
- Reduce Surgical Complications... by reliably implementing all of the changes in care recommended by SCIP, the Surgical Care Improvement Project
- Prevent Pressure Ulcers... by reliably using science-based guidelines for their prevention
- Reduce Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection&by;reliably implementing scientifically proven infection control practices
- Deliver Reliable, Evidence-Based Care for Congestive Heart Failure... to avoid re-admissions
- Get Boards on Board & by defining and spreading the best-known leveraged processes for hospital Boards of Directors, so that they can become far more effective in accelerating organizational progress toward safe care.
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