|
September 27, 2007
Westerly
Hospital
Successfully Improves Care for ICU Patients
Providence, RI – The Westerly
Hospital, along with hospitals
from across the state, gathered in Providence
last Thursday to recognize the completion of the first phase of the Rhode
Island ICU (Intensive Care Unit) Collaborative.
Launched in 2005,
the Collaborative has aimed to improve the quality and safety of care for
adult ICU patients by reducing length of stay, complications and
associated costs. Among its achievements, The Westerly Hospital
implemented and evaluated proven strategies that address these issues,
resulting in improvements that included four months of no
ventilator associated pneumonia and no catheter related blood stream
infections.
The Westerly
Hospital’s
improvement data, combined with data from all the ICUs in
the state, has generated another two years of Collaborative funding from
Blue Cross / Blue Shield of RI and UnitedHealthcare
of New England.
Presenting The Westerly Hospital’s experience
and outcomes over the first two years of the Collaborative was Debra
Johnson, Infection Control Coordinator for The Westerly Hospital.
The Rhode Island ICU
Collaborative will continue its work and The Westerly Hospital along with
all other ICU units, have agreed to participate
in the second phase which will run from September 1, 2007 to August 31,
2009. Efforts will include continuing the momentum established
during Phase I and raising the bar on the care provided to ICU patients
in our state.
The Rhode Island ICU
Collaborative was formed by the Rhode Island Quality Institute, Quality
Partners of Rhode Island, and the Hospital Association of Rhode
Island. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and UnitedHealthcare of New England have funded the
project’s management costs and hospitals supported the internal
costs of the program.
|
|
Contact: Nick
Stahl, Community Relations
401-348-2300,
ext. 18
nstahl@westerlyhospital.org
|
|