Department of Veterans’ Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System
The IOM estimates that 2 million patients acquire infections in U.S. Hospitals every year and 100,000 of those patients die, often following a routine procedure.
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System (VAPHS) is heading efforts to dramatically reduce the number of hospital acquired infections not only in Pittsburgh, but throughout the entire VA system. Under the guidance and leadership of Dr. Rajiv Jain, Chief of Staff at VAPHS, the VA is seeing tangible results.
His team uses the Toyota LEAN method, which depends on an active nurse leader in every department to keep staff active and engaged as well as a four-pronged prevention strategy called the MRSA Bundle, which includes hand hygiene, active surveillance, contact precautions and cultural transformation. In order to expand and lower FTE costs, Dr. Jain also utilizes a positive deviance approach, which allows staff leaders to learn from successful departments, create their own action plans and then implement that action plan into their own departments.
By the end of 2009, Dr. Jain believes implementation of his system will be complete among all VA hospitals. He has also actively worked with Johns Hopkins, Billings, Albert Einstein and HCA who received Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant money to utilize his methodology.
Results
- Dr. Jain’s efforts have already cut infection rates by 60 percent at VAPHS and by 50 percent (ICU) and 30 percent (acute care) nationally in VA hospitals.
- Though VAPHS has not calculated exact cost savings from their infection strategy, they do recognize cost avoidance. The typical hospital-acquired infection costs anywhere between $18,000 and $24,000 per infection. Before Dr. Jain’s program VAPHS experienced 60 to 65 infections a year. That number has now been lowered to 12 to 15.
***For more information, please visit, www.positivedeviance.org.
Published: January 26, 2009
