Case Studies
The American Hospital Association produces case studies on its member organizations across a wide range of health-care topics.
Greenville Health SystemGreenville, South Carolina786 Beds
Early and safe mobility of critically ill patients in a cardiovascular surgical intensive care unit was addressed in this study. Using a multilevel mobility protocol, the team aimed to decrease the CVICU length of stay, decrease ventilator hours and evaluate the patients' experience of care related…
The hospital developed a comprehensive, multidisciplinary stroke program to provide patients with rapid, appropriate and guideline-based treatments to help improve their chances of recovery.
Find out how this hospital optimized patient care through optimal patient placement, reducing costs and enhancing satisfaction by consolidating care levels and ensuring patients are placed in the right level of care.
In 2009, the leadership team of this hospital empowered its multidisciplinary critical care committee to develop and implement a therapeutic hypothermia protocol. The protocol was instituted at the patient's point-of-entry via the ED for all out-of-hospital, post- cardiac arrest patients. The goal…
The critical care unit identified VAP as an area for improvement, with three VAPs from May-July 2011 and five from May-October 2011. The hospital identified best practices, developed engaged staff and physician champions, achieved multidisciplinary collaboration and identified opportunities to…
The purpose of the project was to improve the recognition and early goal directed treatment of patients with sepsis to reduce mortality rates by 50 percent in one year from implementation. The hospital used multi-point strategies provided by the Surviving Sepsis Campaign to help guide practitioners…
Utilizing PDSA, the hospital's multidisciplinary team utilized evidence based best practices to enhance the patient care experience associated with total knee replacement surgery through improved patient education and improved surgical outcomes, including a reduction in the risk of postoperative…
The heart failure quality improvement team set out to improve scores on heart failure core measures. In fiscal year 2010, the hospital's failure rate was 42 percent, with a high of 63 percent in November 2010. This project focused on improving the health of hospitalized patients by increasing…
After acknowledging that medication errors were on the rise, the facility implemented computerized physician order entry and medication barcoding to assist with medication verification, and initiated the transition to smart pump technology that included safety software. Drug libraries were…