TWO NUMC SUBMISSIONS ACCEPTED IN THE HANYS QUALITY INTIATIVE 2010 PROFILES IN QUALITY AND PATIENT SAFETY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 26, 2011
PRESS CONTACT:
Shelley Lotenberg
shelley@numc.edu
516-572-6055
TWO NUMC SUBMISSIONS ACCEPTED IN THE HANYS QUALITY INTIATIVE 2010 PROFILES IN QUALITY AND PATIENT SAFETY
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE STROKE FORCE COLLABORATE TO IMPROVE QUALITY
IMPROVED EFFICIENCY OF PLATELET UTILIZATION THROUGH LEADERSHIP AND CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION
East Meadow, NY… Arthur A. Gianelli, President/CEO of the NuHealth System, proudly announced that two of the Nassau University Medical Center’s submissions had been accepted in the Healthcare Association of New York State Quality Initiative 2010 Profiles in Quality and Patient Safety, Information technology and the stroke force collaborate to improve quality, improved efficiency of platelet utilization through leadership and cultural transformation.
“Congratulations to those involved in submitting two of our initiatives accepted for publication, demonstrating our continuous improvement in quality, safety and efficacy of care as well as our commitment to innovative practices,” said Gianelli. “The HANYS initiatives for Quality and Patient Safety recognize organizations that met publication standards with each profile including a program description, lessons to be learned that provide insights into what it takes to make positive change occur.”
Maureen Shannon, Vice President of Quality Management, who coordinated the submission, congratulated both teams on their successful project outcomes, which demonstrate their commitment to quality patient care and safety initiatives.
In its introduction to the report, “HANYS congratulates and thanks all our members for their willingness to share their ideas, experiences and successes. We encourage all members to take advantage of the information in this publication as a strategy to inform and accelerate efforts to improve quality and patient safety.”
Information technology and the stroke force collaborated to improve quality, submitted by Ricardo Cruz, MD, attending brain trauma specialist at NUMC and Philip Carballeira, IT specialist. As a New York State Designated Stroke Center, NUMC follows best practice standards and discharge guidelines developed by the American Heart Association. NUMC’s goal was to simplify and ensure the validity of documentation, and provide real-time “drill downs” with immediate correction plans. The Plan-Do-Study-Act was applied to the patient entry component of their stay. To accomplish this goal an information technology solution was developed and initiated in April 2008.
OUTCOMES:
• A 228% increase in the number of stroke patients with recorded National Institutes of Health stroke scale score
• A 36% increase in the number of stroke patients who received a computerized tomography scan less than 25 minutes from arrival
• A 158% increase in the number of stroke patients with a recorded last well and arrival time to identify the earliest possible time that stroke symptoms began
• A 126% increase in validations of acute ischemic stroke patients who are not treated with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV t-PA) due to exclusion criteria.
Improved efficiency of platelet utilizations through leadership and cultural transformation, submitted by Jen Lin, MD, director of the pathology residency program at NUMC. Issues were raised about unused, expired platelet units. Using the Plan-Do-Study Act (PDSA) approach the blood bank department identified the opportunity for improving knowledge about platelet utilization. Before implementing change 28.4% of platelet units became outdated. The intention was to identify if modification of behavior and culture would result in improvement in platelet utilization.
OUTCOMES:
• Through behavior modification, 64.5 units of platelets were saved during a 332-day period post-intervention.
• This decrease represents an annual savings of 70.9 platelet units and $50, 631.
ABOUT NUHEALTH
NuHealth is a Long Island health care organization delivering essential medical care and disease and lifestyle management to everyone at every stage of life. Also known as Nassau Health Care Corporation, NuHealth is a public benefit corporation managing the operations of Nassau Medical Center, A. Holly Patterson Extended Care and a network of Family Health Centers that bring primary and specialty care out into the community. By emphasizing wellness, cultural sensitivity and collaborative efforts with the North Shore-LIJ Health System, NuHealth is working to make good care more affordable and easier to access.
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