Case Studies
The American Hospital Association produces case studies on its member organizations across a wide range of health-care topics.
The Problem With the national average of hospital-acquired skin breakdown at 4.8 percent, Bronson set out to achieve the best practice benchmark of less than 1.7 percent and reduce hospital-acquired pressure ulcers. Read the solution and results by clicking 'view item.'
The Problem Bronson's patient safety committee appointed a task force to look at medication errors in pediatric patients. The team looked at all medication errors that occurred in patients 17 years and younger. There were 162 errors in the previous year wit a rate of occurrence at 7.39 per 1,…
The Problem In 2007, the Keystone Center for Patient Safety and Quality partnered with the Michigan Health and Hospital Association and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan to decrease hospital-associated infections in health care organizations throughout Michigan. The initiative focused on areas…
The Problem Hand hygiene is the single most important way to prevent the spread of infection in a hospital. Most health care personnel do not perform hand hygiene as often as they should. To improve the performance of health care staff in hand hygiene, it first must be measured accurately. Bronson…
The Problem Falls can occur at any time during the hospitalization, resulting in complications such as soft tissue changes, fracture and decline in function, as well as increased length of stay and hospital costs. Hospital costs for treatment of a fall in an elderly patient have been estimated at…
The Problem The emergency department corrective action team began May 2, 2007 with the mission statement to improve the emergency department process. The goals were to improve patient satisfaction to greater than 88 percent, decrease length of stay to less than 120 minutes, reduce left without…
The Problem According to the American Heart Association, heart failure affects about 5.7 million Americans, with 670,000 new cases reported each year. Patients with heart failure typically require frequent hospital admissions, making it one of the most costly cardiovascular ill-nesses. Readmission…
Nurses have always struggled with balancing time between their workloads. Employee satisfaction and retention continue to be challenges, as the volume of patients and demand for quality care rises. A new system needed to be created to relieve the burden of administrative tasks from the nurse,…
The Problem Central line-associated bloodstream infections have vexed hospitals performing interventional care for years. While the rate at Allegheny General Hospital was no worse than the national average, it was decided that meeting that goal was unacceptably low and that patients were being…
The Problem
In 2007, all 19 regional perinatal programs in New York began looking at the reduction of central-line associated blood stream infections because none of them were without incidence.
The Solution