Alliance Improve First Webinar Series Showcases Successful Quality Improvement Initiatives

NQF Endorses Five PICU Quality Measures to Help Hospitals Improve Safety

The National Quality Forum (NQF) recently endorsed 48 voluntary standards, including five pediatric safety standards, for measuring the performance of acute care hospitals. The measures, which pinpoint many safety and quality issues, will enable health care providers to improve care and can be used for public reporting. The pediatric-specific measures, which are now supported by a consensus of pediatric leaders and experts across the health care industry, will help children’s hospitals accurately monitor and enhance care for critically ill children.

Organizations can now use the following measures to drive improvement:

Children’s Hospitals Publish First Trigger Tool for Detecting ADEs in Pediatric Inpatients
Findings from 12 CHCA Hospitals Show Improved ADE Detection with Trigger Tool Use

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Initiative to Reduce PICU Mortality Rates Wins 2008 RACE for Results Award

Congratulations to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, whose innovative improvement methods to reduce nosocomial infections and mortality in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) earned the 2008 RACE for Results Award. The initiative achieved a 45 percent reduction in mortality rates to significantly improve patient outcomes over the nation’s average. The issues addressed within this initiative are key contributors to mortality in the vulnerable PICU patient population.

Other exceptional entries captured the attention of the industry judges. Texas Children’s Hospital captured 2nd place for “A Journey in Surgical Infection Prevention” while Children’s Hospital of Orange County’s submission “Improving clinical Outcomes of the Extremely Low Birth Weight Infant Through Early Standardized Nutritional Intervention” claimed 3rd place.

The CHCA RACE for Results award program annually spotlights exceptional improvement initiatives that have proven effective in resolving critical issues in children’s hospitals. Owner Hospitals submitted 36 entries demonstrating improvement in a variety of high impact clinical, financial and operational areas.

CHCA Research Group Confirms "Off-label" Drug Use in Children is Common. The largest-ever U.S. pediatric study confirms that "off-label" use of drugs is especially common in children and can impact patient safety.

The CHCA Research Group found that nearly four out of five hospitalized children receive medications that have been tested and approved only for adults. The study, "Off-label Drug Use in Hospitalized Children," is included in the March issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine (2007; 161(3), 282-290). This study, which advocates for drug companies to appropriately test medications in children, has received significant national attention.

New Electronic Health Record Standard Incorporates Pediatric-Specific Information

Following a three-year effort supported by thousands of physicians and clinicians, HL7, an international IT standards company has incorporated pediatric-specific information, such as age-specific vital signs, in its electronic health record (EHR) specification for software vendors. This decision will ensure HL7-compliant vendors create EHR systems that are appropriate for both adult and pediatric patients.