Dayton Children’s receives 2016 Ohio Patient Safety Award

In recognition of National Patient Safety Awareness Week (March 13-18), the Ohio Patient Safety Institute is proud to announce Dayton Children’s as the recipient of the 7th Annual Dr. Frank Dono Best Practice Award for their quality improvement project that reduced methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

“Health care workers are on the frontlines everyday collaborating and learning to provide the best possible patient experience,” said Rosalie Weakland, RN, FACHE, senior director of quality programs, OHA. “Prevention of health care acquired infections requires specific response strategies through training, policy improvements and protocol enhancements to ensure early detection and appropriate intervention.” MRSA is a bacteria that is resistant to many antibiotics. MRSA is the result of decades of often unnecessary antibiotic use. In the community, most MRSA infections begins with skin infections. In medical facilities, MRSA can lead to life-threatening bloodstream infections, pneumonia and surgical site infections.

Dayton Children’s established a goal to decrease the incidence of MRSA by 50 percent from June 2008 to June 2009. Their methods to decrease MRSA included increasing compliance with nasopharyngeal culture surveillance initiative and applying appropriate isolation precautions. A nasopharyngeal culture is a quick, painless test used to diagnose upper respiratory infections. NP cultures provide a cost effective, minimally invasive avenue for surveillance in the NICU setting. The multidisciplinary team included neonatologists, nurse practitioner, managers, educator, infection preventionist, nurses, respiratory therapists, and patient care assistants. Families received information about obtaining cultures from a safety/ infection prevention perspective, and hand washing education. Through these efforts MRSA rates surpassed their goal and decreased 73 percent from 2008 to 2009. Compliance is sustained at 97-100 percent, and rates of hospital acquired MRSA remain 01.-0.2/1000 patient days.

“It takes a team approach to keep our babies safe,” Jennifer Morris, MS, RNC-NIC, administrative manager for the NICU, Dayton Children’s. “It was an evolving process that has changed the outcomes for the babies in our care. A small change can make a big difference”

The OPSI Best Practice Award is presented annually to an Ohio health care provider that displays excellence in the following areas:

• Improving patient safety.
• Developing innovative programs to improve patient safety.
• Creating best practices that other Ohio health care providers can adopt/adapt.
• Developing a culture of collaboration that improves patient safety.

Dayton Children’s will be recognized during OHA’s 2016 Annual Meeting Quality Summit on Wednesday, June 15, 2016 at the Columbus Hilton at Easton.

The OPSI Award is named in honor of Frank Dono, DO, a long-time leader and pioneer of patient safety and quality. Throughout his 50 years as a health care professional, Dr. Dono was a pioneer in the cause for patient safety and his leadership was instrumental in helping develop strong safety standards and practices in health care. He was passionate about patient safety not only in the hospital setting but across the continuum of care. He had been one of the key OPSI board members since its inception and contributed to helping the organization with many successful projects.

OHA and OPSI are proud to support the National Patient Safety Foundation to recognize its efforts to promote patient safety to patients and families and disseminate strategies to prevent harm. Patient safety and health care quality continues to be a top priority for Ohio hospitals. In 2012, Ohio hospitals admitted more than 1.5 million patients, caring for an average 23,000 patients per day. OHA and OPSI are committed to providing education and resources to promote patient safety information and develop programs for hospital and provider safety, including medication safety, surgical and procedural safety, infection prevention, safety culture and best practices.

About OPSI:

Founded in 2009, the Ohio Patient Safety Institute (OPSI) is an organization dedicated to improving patient safety in Ohio. The Institute was founded by the Ohio Hospital Association, the Ohio State Medical Association, and the Ohio Osteopathic Association. Through this collaboration and common effort, OPSI has the ability to work with hospitals and physicians in Ohio to improve patient safety for all Ohioans.

About OHA:

Established in 1915, the Ohio Hospital Association represents 220 hospitals and 13 health systems throughout Ohio. OHA is the nation’s oldest state hospital association and is recognized nationally for its patient safety and health care quality initiatives and sustainability programs. Guided by a mission to collaborate with member hospitals and health systems to ensure a healthy Ohio, the work of OHA centers on three strategic initiatives: advocacy, economic sustainability, and patient safety and quality. The association founded the Institute for Health Innovation and OHA Solutions hospital staffing program, and is a co-founder of the Ohio Health Information Partnership and the Ohio Patient Safety Institute. OHA has a staff of 65 professionals and supports 15 membership committees and seven professional societies.

For more information, contact:

Stacy Porter

Communications specialist

Phone: 937-641-3666

newsroom@childrensdayton.org