Major Statewide Quality Initiatives
Hospitals in New Hampshire work every day to improve quality of care for the patients they serve. Our state is one of the very few in the country where all acute care hospitals voluntarily collaborate on several quality improvement initiatives, which are listed below.
New Hampshire Healthcare Quality Assurance Commission: Established in statute in 2005, New Hampshire hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers meet regularly to identify ways to work collaboratively to improve the quality and safety of patients. To date this group has focused on decreasing the rate of central line bloodstream infections and ventilator-associated pneumonias by sharing best practices regarding the care and treatment of these patients.
Transparency/Core Measures: According to CMS, New Hampshire hospitals have the highest rate of compliance in the country for providing the appropriate evidence-based processes of care for patients with heart attacks, heart failure, and pneumonia. Consumers can review these data on www.nhqualitycare.org, the only website in the country which provides detailed data for every hospital on every measure.
Hand Hygiene – The ‘High Five’ Campaign: Every New Hampshire hospital has committed to achieving 100% compliance with appropriate hand hygiene practices in order to reduce the chance that patients and staff acquire a healthcare associated infection while receiving care. The ‘High Five’ campaign commits the hospital to investing in the 5 pillars of best practice of the program which include: Leadership Commitment, availability/convenience of products, hand hygiene training and competency, measurement, and accountability.
Patient Safety Alert Wristbands: New Hampshire joins a number of other states in the country which have standardized the colors used for patient safety alert wristbands. Purple bands are used to indicate DNR status, Yellow is used to indicate that the patient is at risk for falling, and red is used to indicate that the patient has an allergy. This initiative works to decrease the confusion when providers travel between institutions. Hospitals which currently use wristbands are standardizing them to these colors in 2009.
WHO Surgical Checklist: New Hampshire hospitals have agreed to adopt the World Health Organization’s Surgical Checklist during 2009. The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist is a tool created by leaders in surgery, anesthesia, nursing and quality improvement to reduce the number of errors and complications resulting from surgery. The checklist outlines essential standards of surgical care and is designed to be simple, be widely applicable, and address common and potentially disastrous lapses.
STOP BSI: Seven large NH hospitals have agreed to work with Dr. Peter Pronovost and his colleagues from Johns Hopkins University on a 2-year initiative to decrease central line bloodstream-associated infections in their Intensive Care Units. The project, starting in 2009, will involve a technical component providing concise evidence-based recommendations on how to prevent these infections as well as an adaptive component which provides a framework for patient safety improvement at the local level.
