Campaign saves lives

Too often, Americans' impressions of the health care system are based on television dramas where bold, life-saving emergency room procedures are performed flawlessly by jaw-droppingly beautiful or handsome physicians.

In real life, the business of protecting patients' lives is far more complicated. Yes, emergency rooms play a central role in saving lives. But efforts to reduce medical errors and preventable deaths have to be the business of every department in a hospital. In Utah, some 28 hospitals participated in an 18-month national campaign to curb medical mistakes and improve care.

According to statewide data, 494 lives were saved. This exceeds the goal of 445, which is very good news. For that matter, the data errs on the side of an undercount, which suggests Utah's number could be higher than 494. Nationwide, participating hospitals saved 122,300 lives, well above the goal of the "100,000 Lives" campaign overseen by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

The campaign asked about 3,100 hospitals nationwide to adopt at least one of six life-saving practices, including using proven tactics to prevent adverse drug reactions, central line infections, surgical site infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia; deploy rapid response teams at the first sign of patient decline or deliver evidence-based, best practice care for heart attacks.

The outcomes were impressive. One Utah hospital reports it has not had a single case of ventilator-related pneumonia in five months.

Better yet, some Utah hospitals already had implemented some of the practices when the campaign was launched. Even they measured improvements during the campaign. Most Utah hospitals elected to take part in a few of the recommended practices, although some could not because of the manner in which their hospitals are organized, or they lacked sufficient patient populations.

Still, these outcomes are highly impressive and, best of all, improve patient safety. The institute hopes that the campaign, which is ongoing, will influence all hospitals to adopt the suggested practices. They should because these measures obviously help to improve the odds for patients.