                  |
 Hospital Initiatives
Infection Prevention Allegheny General Hospital has forged a national reputation for eradicating infections that are acquired by patients in the hospital. Our belief is that hospital-acquired infections should be the rare exception, not the rule, regardless of how sick patients may be. Through various quality and safety initiatives, AGH is standardizing care to reduce infection rates. A broad spectrum of media, including The Wall Street Journal, PBS, ABC 20/20, Modern Healthcare, AARP Bulletin, and the Associated Press, have featured stories about AGH’s groundbreaking work in reducing hospital-acquired infections.
Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLAB). Through its CLAB initiative, Allegheny General Hospital is reducing hospital-acquired infections and ultimately saving lives. In addition, it is saving health-care dollars and decreasing hospital-length-of-stay. This project was piloted in two critical care units and is now implemented hospital-wide. AGH’s Coronary Care Unit and Allegheny General Hospital-Suburban Campus’ ICU recently celebrated over one year with no CLAB infections and the hospital is moving steadily toward a goal of zero infections (a reduction of 65 percent in CLAB throughout the hospital). The CLAB Highmark initiative was presented as a “Best Practice” at a recent Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield conference and the Medical Intensive Care Unit and Coronary Care Unit were awarded the 2006 Baxter Excellence in Patient Safety Award by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) for their work in preventing central line infections. Click here to see a graph of CLAB trends
Core Measures Diseases such as pneumonia, heart failure and heart attack affect millions of Americans each year and measures of their effective treatment are reported publicly. Click here for hospital-specific reviews of treatments for these disorders.
Pneumonia Allegheny General Hospital exceeds the standard used to compare hospitals for several indicators of pneumonia treatment including the selection of appropriate antibiotics, the measurement of blood oxygen levels and the timely administration of antibiotics. Click here to see a graph of these measures
Heart Failure Assessing the patient with heart failure and providing effective treatment are key to care of these patients. Allegheny General Hospital exceeds comparative standards for how often it measures the efficiency of the heart’s pumping action, the use of recognized medications for heart failure and the provision of smoking cessation counseling for heart failure patients. Click here to see a graph of these measures
Heart Attack Time is critical in the treatment of patients with a heart attack, also called an acute myocardial infarction. That is why Allegheny General Hospital implemented its Heart Attack Alert, which brings together the resources to quickly move the patient to the Cardiac Catheterization Lab for the definitive diagnosis and immediate treatment. Allegheny General Hospital is a national leader in heart attack care that exceeds or meets standards for administering heart attack medications. Importantly, the number of deaths from heart attack at AGH have been consistently below the rate for the top 10 percent of all hospitals. Because of its heart attack initiative, AGH was awarded the 2007 Blue Distinction Center for Cardiac Care by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. Allegheny General Hospital was also recognized as a “Get with the Guidelines” (GWTG) participating Hospital Status for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) by The American Hospital Association. Click here to see graphs of Heart Attack measures.
Medical Emergency Team (MET) Patients admitted to the hospital may experience a change in their condition or vital signs. Recognizing these changes and implementing rapid treatment may reverse this deterioration and prevent cardiac arrest. Allegheny General Hospital implemented a Medical Emergency Team (MET), which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week in March 2006. Any health-care provider can call the MET Team to discuss patient issues. Team members arrive within minutes of the call and include a physician, a respiratory therapist and an ICU nurse. Since implementation of the MET Team, MET calls have increased from 12 to 36 for an average of 26 calls per month. In addition the number of cardiac arrests has decreased substantially. Click here to see a graph of MET responses.
The MOD Team The Mobilization on Demand Team (MOD) is a program designed to ensure patient safety and quality care while reducing workplace injuries. Research demonstrates that safe patient handling policies, specialized training for staff members and the use of patient mobilization equipment can reduce injuries to both the patient and the caregiver. Consisting of two team members who meet physical standards for the position and who are competent in lifting techniques, the MOD Team assists lifting/transferring patients on various nursing units. The trial period for the MOD Team was recently completed and is awaiting approval for full implementation.
Fall Prevention Program An estimated 30 percent of hospital-based falls result in serious injuries (e.g., hip fracture). Fall-related injuries can impair the patient’s function, independence and quality of life. To prevent patient falls, AGH instituted a Fall Prevention Program. The program includes a process to identify patients at risk for falling when they are admitted, are transferred from one unit to another and during the daily day shift patient assessment. Outpatients are also assessed for their risk for falling and Emergency Department patients are assessed during triage. Depending on the patient’s Fall Risk level, actions are implemented to reduce the patient’s risk for falling and to minimize the severity of injury if a fall occurs.
AGH Dialysis Centers Patients with kidney disease are unable to remove many substances from their blood and need special technology to perform this vital function. A dialysis machine cleans the blood of naturally occurring chemicals. Allegheny General Hospital operates the Allegheny Valley Center in Natrona Heights, Pa, the Allegheny Kidney Treatment Center in Wexford, Pa., the Thorn Run Dialysis Center in Moon Township, Pa., the St. Mary’s Dialysis Center in Somerset, Pa. and the Dialysis Clinic at AGH. Click here to access to a Web site that compares the effectiveness of various dialysis centers for further evidence of the high quality care provided by AGH.
|