Innovation marks Parkland patient safety initiatives
‘RITE’ Program showing positive results in infection prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that about one in 25 patients hospitalized in the U.S. develops an infection associated with their hospital care. It’s a problem that plagues every acute care hospital in the country.
Approximately 722,000 healthcare associated infections, or HAI, are reported each year and HAIs are linked to as many as 75,000 deaths per year in the U.S. The financial burden of HAIs is also enormous, accounting for an estimated $28 to $33 billion in excess health care costs annually, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
“HAIs are a major concern for every hospital,” said Fred P. Cerise, MD, MPH, President & CEO of Parkland Health & Hospital System. “And while Parkland’s rates of HAI place us in good standing compared to national benchmarks, we are continually focused on this issue. Ensuring patient safety and providing excellent care demands constant dedication to preventive strategies and innovation.”
Thanks to a major four-year initiative launched in 2013 with the help of funding from the state’s 1115 Waiver program, Parkland has already begun to see early successes. Known as RITE (‘Reduce Infections Together in Everyone’), this proactive program is designed to combat HAI by transforming the quality of care through innovative methods. In addition to HAI, the RITE program is addressing sepsis mortality, also a potentially preventable complication of health care delivery.
“Our goal is to accelerate improvements and achieve much-needed standardization in knowledge, attitudes, practices and cultures of safety related to these potentially preventable complications,” said Pranavi Sreeramoju, MD, MPH, Chief of Infection Prevention at Parkland. “In addition to standardization, we are engaging clinicians in identification of barriers and potential solutions, training a critical number of staff in process improvement methods, and participating in the regional collaborative to learn and share practices.”
The RITE program is focused on reduction of three types of preventable healthcare associated infections – central line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), surgical site infections (SSI) and improvement in adherence to care bundle for patients with sepsis across the entire Parkland system, said Dr. Sreeramoju.
In 2014, Parkland has seen HAI rates improve by 30 percent for CLABSI; 57 percent for CAUTI; 18 percent for SSI and nearly doubled the number of patients getting all elements of sepsis care within hours of arrival.
“We are pleased with these results, but there are many more things to do,” Dr. Sreeramoju stated. “Although RITE was conceived as a four-year project, it will not end in 2016. It will continue as an integral part of Parkland’s commitment to continuous quality improvement and transformation of health care delivery.”
The RITE program addresses care for the vast majority of inpatients at Parkland – approximately 38,000 admissions and the 15,000 patients undergoing surgical procedures annually. The program is a collaborative effort of numerous teams that cut across several disciplines and professions including nurses, physicians and other clinical and administrative staff.
For more information about HAI, visit http://www.cdc.gov/hai/
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