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Providence Health Care Wins National Award for Innovation With Life-Saving Sepsis Protocol
<< BACK | Download Word File Vancouver, June 14, 2006 — For the third time in as many years, a team of caregivers at Providence Health Care has won a prestigious national award for innovation in health care — the 3M Health Care Quality Team Award. Awarded annually by the Canadian College of Health Service Executives (CCHSE), this prominent health-care accolade acknowledges successful, sustainable quality improvement projects that demonstrate high levels of innovation and outstanding teamwork. Providence Health Care has now won a 3M award an unprecedented three years in a row. This year's 3M Health Care Quality Team Award in the acute care category has been won by a multidisciplinary team from the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at St. Paul's Hospital, who applied practices that improved patient care and reduced deaths from sepsis by nearly 50 per cent. The award was presented yesterday at the annual National Healthcare Leadership Conference in Victoria. "Congratulations to the St Paul's Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Department team for their great work and on receiving this prestigious award. This remarkable life-saving innovation dramatically lessens risk for recovering patients," said Health Minister George Abbott. "This is another example of how B.C.'s medical professionals are leading improvements in healthcare through teamwork and ingenuity." "The award acknowledges the excellent work being done at Providence to improve access and care for patients," said Carl Roy, President and CEO of Providence Health Care. "This initiative is an outstanding example of how innovation, quality and teamwork can help save lives. It also provides an invaluable model of best clinical practices that can be emulated across Canada." Sepsis is a systemic infection in tissues or the blood stream caused by bacteria or other infectious organisms. It can originate anywhere in the body and, if left unchecked, leads to septic shock and ultimately organ failure and death. Those at greatest risk are all critically ill patients, the elderly and those with chronic disease or compromised immune systems. One of healthcare's greatest challenges, sepsis is a major cause of illness and death worldwide and takes the lives of tens of thousands of Canadians each year. Providence Health Care is part of a Canada-wide initiative designed to use ICU expertise to improve patient care and help prevent deaths from sepsis. The team adopted the best practice standards established by the national ICU collaborative and developed a streamlined process for the early identification and treatment of septic patients. When this process was implemented, the results were dramatic. There was nearly a 50 per cent decrease in patient deaths from sepsis, exceeding the team's original goal of reducing patient mortality by 20 per cent. And, because septic patients were being identified and treated earlier, they spent less time in the ICU. "We created a new process that removed delays and barriers to care for sepsis patients, allowing for early identification and faster treatment. This not only reduces their risk of death, but also potentially reduces the number of admissions to the ICU," said Bonita Elliott, ICU Operations Leader. "This provides greater access to the ICU for other patients who require that level of care." The team has shared their data and learning with the national collaborative and are also presenting at both local and national conferences. "Our results are earning national recognition, but more importantly they are saving patients' lives. We hope that our results will inspire other hospitals to implement similar initiatives," said Dr. Kirk Hollohan, Physician Leader, Quality and Utilization Management. Some of the process changes instituted in the award-winning sepsis protocol include educating staff about early warning signs of sepsis, standardizing testing and medication orders and having a medication kit in the ER that contained all possible antibiotic combinations for sepsis patients, which prevented delays in obtaining the appropriate antibiotics from the pharmacy. As well, monitoring technology was brought into the ER to give staff the ability to measure precisely the extent of septic infection and what treatment was needed. The winning team included representatives from the ICU, ER, Pharmacy, Information Management/Information Systems and Performance Improvement. Providence Health Care first received a 3M award in 2004 when the Foot and Ankle Clinic won for a clinical pathway that reduced patient length of stay by 50 per cent and greatly increased patient satisfaction. PHC's Laboratory Services won a 3M Award in 2005 with an initiative that dramatically decreased turnaround times of patient test results and reduced operating costs by $500,000 a year. -30- Contact: Gavin Wilson Providence Health Care Communications 604-806-8583 or gwilson@providencehealth.bc.ca Background 3M Health Care Quality Team Award About the award Offered through The Canadian College of Health Service Executives, The 3M Health Care Quality Team Award recognizes team members who apply a quality management process to create measurable benefits in their network of services and programs. The award encourages institutions and health care providers to embrace quality management by developing innovative approaches that bring about sustainable improvement in programs and services. The 3M Health Care Quality Team Award is the only award of its kind that recognizes innovation, quality and teamwork. About 3M Health Care 3M is a diversified, international company with a health care business consisting of more than 10,000 medical, surgical, consumer, home health care, dental and pharmaceutical products. 3M uses six sigma processes within its own organization and has helped hundreds of its customers to integrate quality management processes into their operations. About CCHSE Founded in 1970, the Canadian College of Health Service Executives (CCHSE) is a national, non-profit, professional association dedicated to developing, promoting, advancing and recognizing excellence in health leadership. Our 3,000 individual and 70 corporate members work in all health sectors across the country. We offer a wide range of services including a competency-based certification program, a forum for the exchange of information and best practices, a career network, and an extensive national program of professional development resources and opportunities. We also publish the only peer-reviewed journal that covers issues related to advances in health services management, theory and practice in a Canadian context. Our contribution to the health system and, ultimately to the health of Canadians, is through the leadership excellence of our members. About Providence Health Care Providence Health Care is a Catholic health-care organization that operates six facilities in Vancouver BC, delivering compassionate care while training health care professionals and making innovative advances in research. Acute care is provided at St. Paul's Hospital and Mount Saint Joseph Hospital. Teaching and research are conducted in affiliation with the University of British Columbia and other institutions of higher education. Providence employs more than 5,000 staff and about 1,200 physicians have privileges at one or more sites. << BACK | Download Word File |
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