Case Studies
The ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ Association produces case studies on its member organizations across a wide range of health-care topics.
For more than ten years, St. Elizabeth Medical Center has focused on length of stay and resource utilization, and while the facility is mindful of ancillary utilization, there was never a formal process to support or promote it. In 2010, the facility, under the leadership of the director of…
In 2006, Southampton Hospital's department of nursing conducted a needs assessment focusing on the quality of patient outcomes, staff recruitment and retention, and patient safety. Part of the assessment included distribution of AHRQ Hospital Safety Survey to staff. Respondents rated 'Overall…
The average length of stay for patients undergoing single elective total joint replacement surgery at Plainview Hospital was excessive at 5.50 days. Patients were inconsistently attending the total joint replacement preoperative class. Inefficiencies in team communication led to increased LOS and…
Traditionally, primary care physicians maintain chief responsibility for treating their critically ill patients. They often bring in specialists as needed. There are clear drawbacks to this approach. For example, primary care doctors often have little experience treating critically ill patients,…
Olean General Hospital is one of only a few community hospitals in the nation to offer a center of excellence in hyperbaric oxygen services and state-of-the-art wound care therapies and treatments. This is accomplished through a partnership with a company specializing in wound care and hyperbaric…
As part of a larger process redesign focused on Northern Westchester Hospital's inpatient medical and surgical units, this initiative had a specific goal of creating an efficient, effective, and patient-centered support services process that would improve patient satisfaction and provide…
In the winter of 2010, Newark-Wayne Community Hospital initiated its first Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program (CUSP) in its emergency department. CUSP, designed to improve patient safety and culture, integrates safety practices into a unit's daily work. It encourages frontline team…
For the past three years, New York Medical College at Westchester Medical Center has been developing handoff best practices, making use of both conventional methods (face-to-face sign-outs where interruptions are minimized and standardized computer sign-out forms), as well as more novel methods…
Although electronic reporting systems for near misses and adverse events have been implemented nationwide (and recently at New York Medical College at Westchester Medical Center), physician participation in such systems has typically been limited. Previous efforts to improve such rates have met…
For 18 months, New York Medical College at Westchester Medical Center implemented several interventions to reduce inpatient morbidity and mortality related to cardiopulmonary arrests. In November 2009, a rapid response system went into full operation. Leading up to the 'go live' date, the hospital…