An 18-month patient safety effort by 21 hospitals in the Greater Cincinnati region has reduced incidents of patient falls that result in injury in these hospitals by 64%, according to the Greater Cincinnati Health Council. Before this effort began, hospitals were working individually to reduce the risk of falls in their facilities. But the decision was made that progress could be made more quickly by working together. The 21 hospitals agreed to share incident data with one another for the first time and to use a formal improvement model developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. They set a goal of reducing by 50% the regional rate of patient falls that occur in hospitals and that result in moderate or severe injuries. They surpassed that goal by achieving a 64% reduction.

Lead by the Wisconsin Hospital Association, the Wisconsin Transforming Care at the Bedside project fosters innovations and improvement to the quality and safety of patient care. WHA has been conducting site visits at the 22 nursing units participating in the project to ensure that each team has successfully launched TCAB on their unit. The Wisconsin TCAB initiative is an 18-month project that will end March 2014. Participants will each be expected to outline a plan to sustain the project after that date.

Chester County Hospital implemented the Heart Tracks program to provide individuals with their personal risk factor profile for coronary heart disease via an online risk calculator or at an in-person assessment. The in-person assessment program includes risk factors and lifestyle screening. Participants review their findings with a professionally trained counselor and those with moderate or greater risk are contacted by a Cardiovascular Nurse Navigator. The online risk calculator is considered an expansion of the original program to bring awareness to a wider audience. More than 95% of heart attack patients receive life-saving catheterization at the Hospital within 90 minutes of calling 911. This is credited to the extensive Early Heart Attack Care (EHAC) education. Additionally, the hospital's Door-to-Balloon time goal of <90 minutes improved from 72% in 2007 to >95% in 2012.

The Partnership for Health and Accountability recently presented its prestigious Quality and Patient Safety Award to Emory-Adventist Hospital at Smyrna for its project that improved safety through better communication. This annual award recognizes Georgia health care organizations for achievement in reducing the risk of medical errors and improving patient safety and medical outcomes.

Quality patient care, dedication to patient satisfaction and rigorous attention to patient safety are hallmarks of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. With more than 140 central lines in place on any given day, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has virtually eliminated central line-associated blood stream infections from multidrug-resistant organisms, while dramatically reducing other CLABSIs throughout the hospital. Since an ongoing initiative to reduce these infections was launched in 2005, Cedars-Sinai has implemented a number of recommendations from its CLABSI task force, including stringent central-line insertion practices, a new policy to ensure appropriate maintenance of central lines and daily review of the continued necessity of the lines.

Executive Walkrounds at Cleveland Clinic offer insight into the care process and the potential of harm to the next patient. Team representatives from the Quality & Patient Safety Institute, unit/area management and a Cleveland Clinic senior executive walk a particular unit/area on a monthly basis. The goals of these rounds are to: demonstrate to frontline staff senior leadership's commitment to patient safety and develop an ongoing relationship with a clinical unit; emphasize dual ownership for unit level safety; facilitate a non-punitive just culture of safety; encourage reporting of safety opportunities and speak directly to frontline staff regarding how to can improve our systems and processes..

Central line-associated bloodstream infections cause serious illness and death. Front-line caregivers in 100 neonatal intensive care units in nine states - caring for 8,400 newborn patients - used prevention practice checklists and improved communication to prevent an estimated 131 CLABSIs and up to 41 deaths, while avoiding more than $2 million in health care costs. They used the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program to improve a safety culture and consistently implement catheter insertion and maintenance guidelines. When the project began, participating NICUs had an overall infection rate of 2.043 per 1,000 central line days. After 11 months, the rate was reduced to 0.855 per 1,000 central line days, a relative reduction of 58%. The NICU project is part of a larger effort funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to implement CUSP to prevent CLABSI nationwide.

More than 117,000 babies are born in Michigan each year. To ensure these babies come into the world in optimum health, Michigan hospitals are focused on eliminating preventable fetal and maternal harm through the MHA Keystone: OB collaborative. Michigan hospitals have reduced the occurrence of early elective births by nearly 67%, from 5.28% to 1.76%, from March 2010 to March 2012. This includes a roughly 34% reduction in elective cesarean sections before 39 weeks and a more than 49% reduction in elective inductions before 39 weeks. Michigan hospitals also reduced neonatal ICU admissions by more than 43% during that same time period. In addition, Apgar scores indicating the health of newborns increased 34%.

Schneck Medical Center's commitment to a patient first culture has led to many innovative health care practices. SMC submits data for nine of the 10 Hospital Engagement Network focus areas and has demonstrated performance excellence in several of the measures, including low rates of healthcare-acquired infections and dramatically reduced readmissions. SMC was also the recipient of the 2011 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Verde Valley Medical Center is a full-service, nonprofit hospital serving North Central Arizona that has made a strong commitment to improving quality. Some of VVMC's successes so far include: no central-line infections since May 2010, no ventilator-associated pneumonias since June 2009 and significant declines in readmission rates since October 2011.

Boone Hospital Center in Columbia is working intensely on four focus areas of the Hospital Engagement Network initiative and has been entering data on six HEN focus areas. Through its work with the HEN, the hospital has had significant success in reducing hypoglycemic adverse drug events in patients receiving diabetic agents. Boone has demonstrated a 47% reduction in the median rate of hypoglycemia in 2012.

Benewah Community Hospital, a 19-bed critical access hospital in a small remote town in northern Idaho, is actively addressing five of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' targeted areas for quality improvement - early elective deliveries, readmissions, surgical-site infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections and falls. Falls have been reduced from 25 per 1,000 patient days in January 2012 to zero in July and August 2012. Additionally, all-cause 30-day readmissions are down from 11% in February 2012 to 4% in August 2012, and urinary catheter days decreased by two-thirds, from 45 in March 2012 to 15 in August 2012.

Essentia Health has committed to decreasing preventable falls in its cardiac telemetry unit by 50% by June 30, 2013. To meet that goal, staff have tested and implemented multiple interventions including intentional rounding, teach-back on the use of the call-light and post-fall huddles. In addition, the fall risk level is systematically recorded - written with colored markers on white boards in the unit and included in every shift report. As a result, from January to September 2012, the unit's fall rate decreased from 7 falls per 1,000 patient days to 2.4 per 1,000 patient days.

Buffalo Hospital continues to make important strides in overall quality, patient safety, patient experience, performance improvement outcomes and demonstrates a culture dedicated to achieving and sustaining excellence. One of Allina Health's system-wide strategies includes preventing patient falls. In working to reduce patient falls, Buffalo Hospital has developed a fall prevention toolkit, conducted fall education for all staff, developed guidelines to match new interventions and held meetings with ancillary departments to share fall reduction strategies throughout the hospital, creating a safety net of health care workers to assist in fall reduction.

Altoona Hospital has implemented a new computer-assisted medication administration system as an additional check to assure that medications are being properly administered. The system allows caregivers to more accurately and confidently identify patients and give correct medications. When a physician writes an order for a medication, the order is electronically scanned to the pharmacy, the pharmacist then enters the order into the computer system and before a patient receives the medication the medication bar code is scanned and the computer verifies against the patient's information its name, dosage, time and route to be given. If everything matches, a green check mark appears. If something is amiss, a red "X" appears and the nurse must troubleshoot the error. The computer keeps a complete record. After administering the medication, the computer system logs the medication details, including the initials of the staff administering it.

Throughout the University of Pennsylvania Health System, residents are participating in a new program that is aimed at improving quality and safety across the health system. Training the teachers in quality and safety education is a key component of these efforts. Each residency program has begun sending one or two of its faculty for skills training to learn how to teach residents in key quality areas. This year, they will focus on the handoff between doctors, e.g., transferring a patient from the operating room to the ICU, the best way to safely relay information between doctors when they change shifts at night and all the components of patient discharge when patients are “handed off” to their primary care provider. Positive changes throughout the hospitals already have resulted from involving residents in quality improvement.

Consumers in Alabama can now access information on healthcare-associated infections in Alabama hospitals. A recent report published by the Alabama Department of Public Health, provides hospital-specific infection data for several types of infections. Hospital leaders were pleased to have been a part of this important work and remain committed to a strong infection prevention program.

Michigan hospitals' successful patient safety and quality efforts continue to save lives, reduce costs, prevent harm and infections, and empower consumers. The Michigan Health & Hospital Association recently released the 2012 Patient Safety and Quality Annual Report: Improving Patient Care Across the Health Care Continuum that highlights the lifesaving, cost-reducing initiatives under way in Michigan hospitals.

During the nationwide October convening for the hospital engagement networks of the Partnership for Patients initiative, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius cited the OHA HEN as an example of excellent work that the PfP is accomplishing. OHA's first focus of the initiative was on the reduction of infections, specifically the Integration of Care: Infection-related preventable harm. The integrated infection bundle was introduced to help streamline the assessments at the bedside. In the first six months of 2012, OHA HEN participating hospitals were able to reduce infection rates by 56%.

Jones Memorial Hospital is committed to improving patient safety and one of its primary initiatives is focused on encouraging and empowering their patients to take an active role in their own health care and SPEAK UP.  Jones Memorial Hospital is working to help patients "participate in their safety" by being involved and informed members of the health care team.

Hartford Hospital is dedicated to providing both their patients and health care providers with up-to-date information on the hospital's performance. As one way of meeting that goal, Hartford created The Patient Safety Action Group, a multidisciplinary team of some 30 people representing most of the departments and patient service areas in the hospital. It employs a dynamic, inclusive process that brings together people from all roles and functions within the organization on a daily basis. The PSAG produces a weekly newsletter to keep hospital employees informed of efforts within the institution regarding patient safety. Current and past issues are posted on the hospital's website.

Focusing on patient education and collaboration with physicians and the hospital, Gundersen Lutheran's care coordination program has achieved remarkable results. The program has not only improved patient outcomes but also reduced health care costs. RNs and social workers serve as care coordinators, working with each patient to increase compliance with medication and treatment plans, help manage social and emotional needs and prevent hospital readmission.

The Minnesota Hospital Association created the “Good Catch for Patient Safety” award, which they present to Minnesota hospital staff and physicians who demonstrate their commitment to keeping patients safe by "speaking up" to prevent potential harm to a patient. Efforts such as those of the award recipients remind us what a difference one person can make in keeping patients safe.

The Illinois Hospital Association Institute for Innovations in Care and Quality recently honored eight hospitals for their innovative interventions and best practices designed to advance quality patient care. The awards were presented to hospitals in two categories: urban and rural/critical access. Recipients were selected by a panel of 30 nationally recognized quality improvement leaders. Award recipients have achieved measurable and meaningful progress in advancing one or more elements of the Institute of Medicine's six aims for improvement.

A new study from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recently revealed that hospitals participating in a unique nationwide patient safety project were able to reduce the rate of central line-associated bloodstream infections in intensive care units by 40%.  This is based on the agency's preliminary findings of the largest national effort to combat CLABSIs to date. The project used the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program to achieve its landmark results that include preventing more than 2,000 CLABSIs, saving more than 500 lives and avoiding more than $34 million in health care costs. The national project involved hospital teams at more than 1,100 adult intensive care units in 44 states over a four-year period.

Valley Hospital can count many accomplishments, including its work developing a culture of safety. About 15 years ago, the 451-bed hospital serving northern New Jersey experienced a blip up in medication errors. Valley administrators and staff investigated and concluded their complex process for reporting errors needed improvement and the culture needed to change. Staff started reporting near misses, and the hospital rewarded their improvement efforts and also implemented bar coding. As a result, Valley reduced medication errors by 30 to 35%.

23 Wisconsin hospitals will participate in the the second Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB) initiative. Lead by the Wisconsin Hospital Association and supported by Wisconsin’s statewide participation in an Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) grant, 25 hospital units from 23 Wisconsin hospitals will begin an 18-month improvement strategy. TCAB is an innovative model that calls for nurses to lead unit and hospital-wide team efforts to improve the quality and safety of patient care. It focuses on nurses’ creativity, teamwork and focus on patients.

Though more work needs to be done, our nation's hospitals are making advancements in providing quality care for every patient, regardless of race or ethnicity. Nearly 950 hospitals and health systems responded to a benchmarking survey fielded by the AHA's Institute for Diversity, Health Forum and the Health Research & Educational Trust, and reported their actions to reduce health care disparities and increase diversity in leadership and governance. The majority of respondents-between 87 percent; and 94 percent-reported collecting race, ethnicity and primary language (REAL) data from patients. Hospitals are just beginning to use REAL data, but nearly 30 percent of hospitals now use primary language data to benchmark gaps in care. More than 80 percent of hospitals provide cultural competency training to staff.

St. Cloud Hospital works to create an environment of patient safety with a program titled “Speak Up.” This program urges patients to get involved in their care, and it provides information and advice on how they can make their care a positive experience.

Canton-Potsdam Hospital initiated a comprehensive antimicrobial stewardship program after senior leadership noted unacceptable infection rates. The hospital’s patient safety director and infection prevention officer led a task force comprised of key frontline staff from across the organization. They implemented automated screening systems, improved signage, educated non-clinical staff on their role, and held education sessions for the entire staff and physicians. Infection rates subsequently plummeted and the hospital went eight consecutive months without a hospital-acquired C-difAuficile infection.

University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland was awarded the 2012 American Hospital Association-McKesson Quest for Quality Prize for demonstrating leadership and innovation in quality improvement and safety.

Truman Medical Centers and the Hospital Hill Economic Development Corporation launched the TMC Healthy Harvest Mobile Market. The TMC Healthy Harvest Mobile Market is a mobile grocery store unit that will travel throughout the urban core on a weekly basis bringing residents opportunities to purchase healthy choices such as fresh fruits and vegetables in their community at an affordable cost.

Seton Family of Hospitals in Central Texas became a pilot site for programs to reduce birth trauma. This initiative was part of Journey to Zero, a systemwide campaign at Ascension to deliver safe care within several clinical areas. Seton implemented the 39-week rule, which held physicians accountable for declining all requests for elective deliveries prior to 39 weeks, unless medically necessary. As a result, Seton has not performed any elective deliveries before 39 weeks, birth trauma incidence rates have seen a 93 percent reduction and admissions to the neonatal intensive care unit have decreased.

As one of its first initiatives, the Illinois Hospital Association (IHA) Quality Care Institute developing -- Raising the Bar: Call to Action -- to reduce hospital readmissions and hospital-acquired conditions and infections. As part of this campaign, nearly 200 hospitals from across Illinois signed a pledge to engage in these interventions over three years.

Charles Cole Memorial Hospital was recently recognized with an achievement award in patient safety by the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania for its approach to care transitions and hospital readmissions. The hospital decreased readmissions rates by 15.3% and improved care coordination and quality of patient care transitions through community collaboration.

The Ohio Patient Safety Institute recognized Summa Akron City Hospital and Riverside Methodist Hospital, Columbus, as the recipients of the fourth annual OPSI Best Practice Award.  The award honors a health care organization for implementing the most innovative, evidence-based patient safety practice in the state.

The hospitals of Sinai Health System aim to be a national model for the delivery of urban health care. By using evidence-based infection reduction strategies, reviewing data regularly, participating in learning collaboratives and creating zero-defect teams, the health system has significantly reduced the rate of healthcare-associated infectons in adult intensive care units. Collaboration among senior leadership and medical, nursing and infection control staff has been key.

Thirty-one Massachusetts hospitals have joined the Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA) in an effort to improve patient care and reduce healthcare costs throughout the commonwealth. MHA is coordinating a Hospital Engagement Network (HEN) in Massachusetts as part of the federal Partnership for Patients (PfP) Campaign, which has as its stated goals to reduce inpatient harm by 40 percent and cut readmissions by 20 percent at participating hospitals.

For people with diabetes, getting the proper treatment for foot wounds can prevent lingering problems and even amputation. The patient community in the rural area served by Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center has a high incidence of diabetes and obesity, which can cause a high rate of non-healing wounds. Identifying a need and opportunity, CHMC, a 130-bed community hospital and regional referral center, worked with National Healing Corporation to develop a wound healing program.

Mary Washington Hospice and Mary Washington Healthcare’s Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine were recently recognized for their respective quality improvement projects  -  “Changing a Culture to Achieve Excellence" and "Chemistry Redesigned:  Leaning Towards the Future.”  The awards were given by George Mason University’s Health and Human Services Department for Excellence in Clinical Improvement and Excellence in Service Improvement.

The New Jersey Hospital Association recently launched a consumer website for heart failure patients designed to help better manage their condition and protect them from return visits to the hospital. The user-friendly website offers a wealth of up-to-date information, advice, resources and links and allows patients to enroll in heart failure clinics so they can receive comprehensive follow-up care, search a list of pharmacies that deliver medications and find educational programs and exercise classes. And for health care providers, the site provides a valuable resource they can share with heart failure patients, with the goal of improving quality of care and reducing the high cost of hospital readmissions.

Woman’s Hospital in Baton Rouge, LA, has been a leader in implementing new ideas and guidelines that help provide exceptional care and improve the health of women and infants.  In 2007, they launched a collaborative with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to eliminate elective inductions prior to 39 weeks. Eliminating these deliveries improves outcomes for the newborn and mother and as clinical and policy support for the project grew, a larger movement evolved to reduce all early elective inductions and deliveries, unless medically necessary. To educate patients, the hospital provided physicians and patients with pamphlets describing the risks associated with elective inductions. From 2006–2011, primary cesarean delivery rates at Woman’s decreased 19% percent, and admissions to the neonatal intensive care unit decreased by 28.9% percent.

Through a creative, data-driven hand hygiene campaign Abington Memorial Hospital was able to increase its hand-washing compliance rate from 31% to over 90%. The campaign started with secret shoppers observing and collecting data in clinical units. Individual units created signs to remind staff, the administration offered an incentive bonus to all employees, reminders were displayed on computer screen savers and noncompliant staff received letters from the administration. In addition, with progress in hand hygiene, health care-acquired infections at the hospital have plummeted, with many departments reporting zero infections.

Rhode Island hospital ICUs continues to make significant strides in quality improvement and patient safety.  The Rhode Island ICU Collaborative recently released data that shows the rate of central line-associated blood stream infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia reached an all-time low last year. Intensive care units make use of the greatest advancements in medical science and represent areas with great opportunity to prevent death and reduce costs.

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center was recently recognized by the Ohio Hospital Association for decreasing pediatric catheter associated blood stream infection rates on the Hematology/Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant units over three years by 65% and 68%, respectively.

The Ohio Patient Safety Institute (OPSI) recently announced Summa Akron City Hospital, Akron, and Riverside Methodist Hospital, Columbus, as the recipients of the fourth annual OPSI Best Practice Award, which honors a health care organization for implementing the most innovative, evidence-based patient safety practice in the state.

Wisconsin hospitals are sharing data that shows how well they are doing in preventing one of the most serious infections that can occur in an intensive care unit – central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSI). The results show that 58 percent of the hospitals that reported data had zero CLABSI infections in their ICUs during the first six months of 2011.

Improving quality of care can go hand in hand with eliminating disparities in care. University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson participated in an initiative aimed to improve quality of cardiac care for African-American and Hispanic patients by improving care for all patients. UMMC adopted standardized protocols to collect race, ethnicity and language data; provided monthly reports on care performance measures, stratified by patient race, ethnicity and primary language, and tracked core measures of care for heart attack patients. In two years at UMMC, the number of patients receiving all core measures of care for heart attack increased from 74 percent to 82 percent. UMMC also set up an outpatient heart failure management clinic, led by a nurse practitioner who helps patients manage their disease after leaving the hospital. One year after opening the clinic, no patients had a readmission to the hospital.

When Kaiser Permanente in California measured its incidence of pressure ulcers in patients three years ago, it found that its rate of 2.8 percent was considered good, at least in comparison with other hospitals. But Kaiser decided it could do “significantly better” and set a goal to reduce pressure ulcers to less than 1 percent of the health care system's patients. As a result, from 2008 through 2011, Kaiser reduced the rate of pressure ulcers in patients to 0.6 percent.

Hospitals participating in the Tennessee regional collaborative of the American College of Surgeon's National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®) achieved substantial improvements in surgical outcomes, such as reducing the rates of acute renal failure and surgical site infections.

For its efforts to reduce the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia, pressure ulcers and health care-acquired infections, South Texas Health System (STHS) has been honored with the Texas Hospital Association's  2011 Bill Aston Award for Quality. The award recognizes a hospital's measurable success in improving quality and patient outcomes through the sustained implementation of a national and/or state evidence-based patient care initiative.

In an effort to improve infant outcomes and particularly prematurity in Oklahoma, 55 Oklahoma hospitals participated in a harm reduction and quality improvement collaborative to eliminate unnecessary early deliveries prior to 39 weeks of gestation unless there is a documented medically necessary reason for the early delivery. This collaborative was appropriately called, “Every Week Counts .”

Every New Hampshire hospital has committed to achieving 100% compliance with appropriate hand hygiene practices in order to reduce the chance that patients and staff acquire a healthcare associated infection while receiving care. The 'High Five' campaign commits the hospital to investing in the 5 pillars of best practice of the program which include: Leadership Commitment, availability/convenience of products, hand hygiene training and competency, measurement, and accountability.

The Ohio Hospital Association (OHA) have partnered with the Ohio Patient Safety Institute (OPSI) to work with member hospitals, nursing homes and home health agencies throughout the state to improve patient care in 11 clinical areas, ranging from preventing infections and falls to helping patients fight disease from multidrug-resistant organisms.

Nassau University Medical Center has received the Get With The Guidelines®-Heart Failure Bronze Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. Get With The Guidelines is a quality improvement initiative that provides hospital staff with tools that follow proven evidence-based guidelines and procedures in caring for heart failure patients to prevent future hospitalizations. The recognition signifies that NUMC has reached an aggressive goal of treating heart failure patients for at least 90 days with 85 percent compliance to core standard levels of care outlined by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines for heart failure patients.

Integrating the electronic health record to improve the overall care and health of the communities it serves is an overarching goal at West Virginia University Healthcare. The hospital created its Center for Quality Outcomes to integrate functions related to quality, safety and performance improvement. The center conducts research and develops strategies to ensure organizational readiness for new challenges and requirements such as meaningful use.

Earlier this month, 20 Central Ohio hospitals staged simultaneous Scrub Up! events to highlight the critical importance of hand hygiene to reduce infections and disease transmission. The Ohio Hospital Association's (OHA) Quality Institute spearheaded the observance, which engaged staff and visitors of every hospital in six counties.

The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems has launched a patient-centered initiative to highlight Oregon hospitals' quality programs. The Hospitals4Health initiative will showcase community partnerships and other efforts, and encourage patients to be active participants in their care.

The first Kentucky Infection Prevention Boot Camp was held October 11-14 in Louisville and was attended by more than 230 health care professionals from all types of health care settings including, long-term care facilities, ambulatory surgery centers, public health settings and hospitals (97 of the state's 130 hospitals participated).  Attendees shared the common goal to reduce the risk of health care related infections.

Hospitals across Rhode Island were among the first in the nation to have unanimous voluntary adoption of a surgical protocol. The protocol establishes uniformity across hospitals so health care practitioners working at multiple organizations will follow the same routine for all surgical procedures.

To date, the collaborative efforts of the Michigan Hospital Association and Michigan hospitals have saved more than 2,000 lives and more than $300 million.

Alabama's hospitals have decreased the rate of central-line associated blood stream infections in participating intensive care units by 38%. Through this focused approach, hospitals have saved approximately $1.5 million and decreased the number of hospital days by 397.

The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania  (HAP) partnered last week to launch a health care worker universal influenza vaccination campaign. The campaign provides tools to support all hospitals in Pennsylvania in implementing an evidence-based universal vaccination initiative, working toward flu vaccination among health care workers becoming a condition of employment by 2013, as part of a comprehensive approach to prevent all health care-associated infections.

The voluntary patient safety and quality efforts led by Michigan hospitals continue to prevent infections, save lives, introduce efficiencies, save millions of health care dollars and empower consumers. The Michigan Health & Hospital Association released the 2011 Patient Safety and Quality Report: Hospitals Putting Patients First that highlights the safety, quality and efficiency efforts under way in Michigan hospitals and health systems.

The California Hospital Association launched a statewide patient safety awareness campaign called “ Caring is Our Calling,”  which features a statewide television ad, a web-based video, patient safety issue briefs, and digital and social media activities. The goal of the campaign is to showcase the efforts of California hospitals in providing access to safe, high quality care for all patients.

At Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, a team representing key departments makes patient safety rounds to proactively address safety risks then makes recommendations for changes. If a potentially unsafe event occurs, Jefferson responds immediately using the Patient Safety Net (PSN), a Web-based reporting system offering real-time problem solving. The Jefferson Health System is the first Pennsylvania health system using the PSN.

The Texas Hospital Association recently launched the Texas Center for Quality and Patient Safety, within its nonprofit foundation, to advance the adoption of proven strategies that enhance the quality and safety of care provided in Texas hospitals.

Study shows that Massachusetts hospitals to have enhanced quality of care and while reducing costs by more than $151 million for acute and specialty care hospitals statewide between 2007 and 2009 due to a commitment to performance improvement measures. The improvements were credited to increased intra-hospital collaboration and a sense of responsibility to voluntary public reporting of nursing-sensitive care measures.

Florida's hospitals are recognized for their effectiveness and continued focus on eliminating central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSI). Over the past two years, 21 Florida hospitals have participated in this effort to eliminate CLABSI in intensive care units and have done so with a focus on improving care through enhanced teamwork and a culture of patient safety.

Simi Valley Hospital in Simi Valley, Calif. is involved in an effort to reduce pressure ulcers, in conjunction with parent company Adventist Health. The goal of the campaign is to facilitate an interdisciplinary approach to avoiding pressure ulcers, efficiently managing care when they occur and identifying and implementing best practices to reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers. The rate of pressure ulcers at Simi Valley Hospital dropped throughout 2010, thanks in large part to education efforts with the hospital's staff, as well as patients and their family members and other caretakers.

Pennsylvania was the first state to create a patient safety organization, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority. Hospitals report serious events and near?miss information to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, which reports, analyzes, and makes recommendations on how to improve care and prevent medical errors.

Transplant recipients are fragile patients, at high risk for infections and require complex follow-up care. In 2009, the transplant team at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center created a standard discharge process to prevent errors and unplanned preventable occurrences and to improve communication and care delivery between caregivers and the medical team.

Responding to an explosive growth in patient population, Yale-New Haven Hospital implemented a successful initiative to achieve safer patient flow. Method changes for patient services included standardizing the discharge process, using status boards for visual control and improving the accuracy and timeliness of data entry. Results include a 32% percent improvement in discharges by 11 a.m. and an 11% decrease in average bed cleaning turnover time.

Saint Joseph-London in London, KY has improved care and reduced readmissions for chronically ill patients, focusing first on heart failure patients. To better prepare patients for discharge, the hospital implemented a transition coach program. With this intervention, the readmissions rate for heart failure patients has decreased to 15.9% from 27.7%.

Minnesota Hospitals continue to aggressively combat wrong-procedure events throughout their organizations and are doing so through a Time Out Campaign designed to eliminate wrong-site events through administration, physicians and front-line staff joining together to hold each other accountable for conducting robust, effective time-outs for every patient, every invasive procedure, every time.

The Ohio Hospital Association is honoring 28 hospitals with its Hospital Safety Awards for successful hospital safety programs and superior employee safety records.

The Texas Center for Quality and Patient Safety is an affiliate of the Texas Hospital Association’s nonprofit foundation. Established in 2010, the center is bringing together Texas hospitals, state and national experts and evidence-based health care practices in an effort to improve the quality of care at the bedside and reduce costs.

Eighty-one percent of Oregon hospitals now use a safe surgery checklist to reduce surgical complications.

Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York instituted a new program called "Patient Safety Fridays." - the leadership team meets every Friday to examine safety and regulatory issues and make improvements.

The University of Michigan Health System created "Improving Patient Safety in Hospitals: Turning Ideas into Action"  to promote best practices that exemplify safe and high quality patient care. 

Minnesota Hospital Association is conducting "SAFE SITE," a statewide campaign to prevent wrong-site surgeries.

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