Cincinnati Children's Dramatically Reduces Infection Rate, Honored with Ohio Patient Safety Award

Friday, March 13, 2015

Columbus, Ohio – (March 13, 2015) In recognition of National Patient Safety Awareness Week (March 8-14), the Ohio Patient Safety Institute (OPSI) named Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center winner of its top annual award for the hospital’s quality improvement project that reduced central line associated blood stream infections (CLABSI) by 70 percent in the last six months 2014. The Cincinnati Children’s team was also recognized as a runner-up honoree by the OPSI board.

The Cincinnati Children’s team members were:

• Christopher Dandoy, MD, MSc
• Laura Flesch, MSN, APRN, CFNP
• Rajaram Nagarajan, MD, MS
• Jackie Hausfeld, MSN, RN, NEA-BC
• Kathy Demmel, MHA, RN
• Erin Osterkamp, MSN, RN
• Deanna Best, BSN, RN
• Deanna Hawkins, RN, MSN 

Cincinnati Children’s convened a blood stream infections oversight task force of key stakeholders, including senior hospital leadership, physicians, nursing leadership, registered nurses, infection control, vascular access team and patient care assistants in 2014 to review these infections acquired by its cancer patients who are already immunocompromised and more likely to get an infection. After assessing hospital procedures and policies, the team identified improvement opportunities by implementing a new standard process for hygiene; utilizing family engagement; increasing awareness of high-CLABSI-risk patients; improving education and assistance for nursing performing high-CLABSI-risk procedures; and developing a new system to improve allocation of resources to de-escalate system stress. 

“Patient safety and health care quality require consistent engagement and management to ensure the best experience for patients,” said Rosalie Weakland, RN, FACHE, senior director of quality programs for the Ohio Hospital Association. “Ohio hospitals’ more than 282,000 employees are focused on providing the highest quality health care for their communities.”

The OPSI Best Practice Award, named in honor of the late Dr. Frank Dono, is presented annually to an Ohio health care provider that displays excellence in the following areas:

• Improving patient safety
• Developing innovative programs to improve patient safety
• Creating best practices that other Ohio health care providers can adopt / adapt
• Developing a culture of collaboration that improves patient safety

Cincinnati Children’s will receive its award during OHA’s 2015 Annual Meeting Quality Summit June 10 at the Columbus Hilton at Easton. Dr. Dono, a 50-year practitioner and pioneer of patient safety and quality, was instrumental in helping develop strong safety standards and practices in health care. He was passionate about patient safety across the continuum of care. 

The OPSI Board also selected two runner-up honorees and two honorable mentions that include:

• Runner-Up: “A team-based approach to reducing cardiac monitor alarms” – Cincinnati Children’s
• Runner-Up: “Using patient safety partnerships to improve patient safety culture” – OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital
• Honorable Mention: “Wellness-on-Wheels” – OhioHealth
• Honorable Mention: “Surgical safety hard stop checklist” – Summa Akron City Hospital

OHA and OPSI are proud to support the National Patient Safety Foundation to recognize its efforts to promote patient safety to patients and families and disseminate strategies to prevent harm. Patient safety and health care quality continues to be a top priority for Ohio hospitals. In 2012, Ohio hospitals admitted more than 1.5 million patients, caring for an average 23,000 patients per day. OHA and OPSI are committed to providing education and resources to promote patient safety information and develop programs for hospital and provider safety, including medication safety, surgical and procedural safety, infection prevention, safety culture and best practices.

About Cincinnati Children’s

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center ranks third in the nation among all Honor Roll hospitals in U.S. News & World Report’s 2014 Best Children’s Hospitals. It is also ranked in the top 10 for all 10 pediatric specialties. Cincinnati Children’s, a non-profit organization, is one of the top three recipients of pediatric research grants from the National Institutes of Health, and a research and teaching affiliate of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. The medical center is internationally recognized for improving child health and transforming delivery of care through fully integrated, globally recognized research, education and innovation. Additional information can be found at www.cincinnatichildrens.org. Connect on the Cincinnati Children’s blog, via Facebook and on Twitter.

About OPSI

Founded in 2009, the Ohio Patient Safety Institute (OPSI) is an organization dedicated to improving patient safety in Ohio. The Institute is a subsidiary of the Ohio Health Council, which was founded by the Ohio Hospital Association, the Ohio State Medical Association, and the Ohio Osteopathic Association. Through this collaboration and common effort, OPSI has the ability to work with hospitals and physicians in Ohio to improve patient safety for all Ohioans.

About OHA

Established in 1915, the Ohio Hospital Association represents 220 hospitals and 13 health systems throughout Ohio. OHA, marking its centennial year in 2015, is the nation’s oldest state hospital association. With a mission to collaborate with member hospitals and health systems to ensure a healthy Ohio, OHA is focused on three strategic initiatives: patient safety and quality, advocacy and economic sustainability.