Information Center

Munson Medical Center evaluated the effectiveness of continuous monitoring via capnometry (end-tidal CO2, respiratory rate) and pulse oximetry (SpO2, pulse rate) in bariatric surgery patients on a medical-surgical unit in preventing near codes, codes, and death.

In May 2010, BC Children’s Hospital and BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre became the first two hospitals in Canada to implement all three elements of the Alaris® Auto-ID module, a system that incorporates barcodes on patient IDs, clinical staff IDs and IV medications prepared by their shared pharmacy.

When Bergan Mercy Medical Center, 400-bed facility in Omaha, Nebraska, began the process to install the Pyxis® Anesthesia System, they had several goals: 1) reduce lost charges, 2) implement a user-friendly system for Anesthesia Providers, 3) improve control over medications being handled by Anesthesia Providers in the OR, 4) develop a clear overview of medications being administered by Anesthesia Providers and 5) enhance patient safety.

Memorial Hermann Healthcare System is a network of 11 hospitals in Texas, performing some 88,000 surgical procedures annually. Memorial Hermann was saddled with a cumbersome supply inventory system with different processes in each of its hospitals—resulting in lost charges, loss of productivity and untracked supplies.

An analysis of 14 Children’s Hospitals’ CQI Data from August 2009 to July 2010, including Children’s Hospital National Guardrails® Trends and care area profiles.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) is a 777-bed teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School located in the heart of Boston’s renowned Longwood Medical Area. Brigham and Women’s Hospital is a national leader in the use of innovative technology to improve medication safety. When existing infusion pumps needed to be replaced, the goal was to select technology that would have an immediate impact in averting medication errors with the greatest potential for patient harm—i.e., intravenous (IV) medication administration errors—and fit with BWH’s long-term vision of an integrated medication administration system (MAS).

St. Elizabeth Medical Center, based in Utica, NY, began an initiative to reduce the total Nosocomial Infection Marker (NIM) rate. After analyzing the housewide blood NIM rate, the Infection Prevention team discovered that the NIMs over the past year were due primarily to blood culture contamination. They developed a plan to reduce the incidence of the common blood contaminant and infectious pathogen, coagulase negative staphylococcus.

South Georgia Medical Center, a 335-bed non-profit regional referral hospital, located in Valdosta, GA, needed to drastically improve the supply management process in their Operating Room. Inventory, reorder and charging of supplies in the OR were conducted manually, which proved to be labor-intensive and error-prone. Inventory spending had swelled on everything from commodity based products to surgical instruments. Having already experienced success using Pyxis® supply technologies in the ER, South Georgia approached CareFusion with their supply management challenges in the OR.

Rome Memorial Hospital is a not-for-profit community hospital that provides traditional inpatient services and a broad range of diagnostic and treatment services. Based on hospital information data analyzed by MedMined services from CareFusion, urinary tract infections (UTIs) were identified as a more frequently occurring, higher cost infection at Rome Memorial Hospital.

St. John’s Medical Center, a 52-acute care bed regional hospital in Jackson Hole, WY, faced multiple challenges controlling inventory and capturing charges. Lost charges were rising as a result of inefficient manual processes, and “expedited” freight costs were mounting due to frequent stock-outs. The facility either had to build more space, hire more people or improve their inventory management system with a better method for receiving and distributing inventory. With limited space and resources, St. John’s staff identified the need for a perpetual automated inventory management system.