Chair Files

Mission Eliminate Preventable Harm

The mission: to eliminate all preventable harm by January 1, 2012. The team leaders: board of directors, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), a 631-bed hospital in Boston, Mass. This mission started in October 2007 when BIDMC?s board participated in a day-and-a-half-long retreat on quality and safety. Board members shadowed employees, listened to a panel of patients discuss their experiences and participated in breakout sessions on institutional goal-setting. Further discussions followed the retreat, and the board decided to increase its focus on patient safety and satisfaction and set ambitious goals. The medical center "dove in" to implementation, first by defining and categorizing "harm" and then focusing on reporting adverse events. Staff implemented processes for effective intervention, such as the Institute for Healthcare Improvement?s VAP prevention bundle to reduce ventilator-associated pneumonia. Results show consistent progress in reducing VAP and surgical site infections and a rapid decline in "harm"cases. In addition, BIDMC now ranks in the 99th percentile on the AHRQ safety culture survey. For more information, contact Pat Folcarelli, R.N., director, patient safety.

  

Additional Resources

Webinars December 13th, 2017

Equity of Care Webinar SeriesPart 2: Aligning Diversity and Inclusion, Community Engagement, Busi......

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Webinars November 20th, 2017

Equity of Care Webinar SeriesPart 1: Aligning Diversity and Inclusion, Community Engagement, Busi......

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Webinars November 17th, 2017

Transportation and the Role of Hospitals This AHA webinar on “Transportation and the Role of Hos......

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