Innovations by Posted Date

Hospital at Home provides hospital-level care in a patient’s home as a full substitute for acute hospital care for selected conditions common among seniors.

The Payne-Phalen Living at Home/Block Nurse Program is a community-based program that provides medical and social services to neighborhood seniors, enabling them to live at home rather than in a nursing home.

In 2006, a consortium of 11 hospitals in northeastern Pennsylvania voluntarily agreed to initiate a process to standardize the colors of patient wristbands that identify high-risk clinical situations (e.g., patient allergies); prior to the program, Pennsylvania hospitals used many different color schemes, leading to an increased risk of near misses and medical errors.

Meadowlark Hills, a retirement community, renovated one of its facilities so residents can live together in group households and become more independent.  This led to improved residents' health and a sharp decrease in staff turnover.

The Memory Disorders Clinic at the University of Washington implemented a group medical care model as an alternative to traditional individual visits, allowing substantially more dementia patients to be served with only a modest increase in clinician time.

Yale New Haven Hospital developed the Hospital Elder Life Program, which screens all patients aged 70 years and older on admission for the presence of six risk factors for delirium. An interdisciplinary team implements targeted interventions designed to reduce identified risks and then coordinates with area agencies and follows up with patients to ease the transition to home.

Providence Mount St. Vincent (known as "The Mount") developed and implemented a new model for nursing home care in which most residents live in a "neighborhood" of 20 to 23 residents containing a cluster of private and semi-private rooms and a large kitchen/dining area that serves as the central gathering spot for meals and activities. The Mount's approach also focuses on giving residents more independence, autonomy, and dignity than in a traditional nursing home, leading to a greater sense of community and a higher quality of life for residents, as well as a better work environment for employees.

An integrated care program places mental and behavioral health specialists in over 50 primary care locations to treat patients age 65 years and older with depression or anxiety and those who engage in risky alcohol use.

The On-Time Pressure Ulcer Prevention and Treatment program uses standardized documentation data elements and actionable clinical reports that are integrated into practice at nursing homes, leading to a significant reduction in pressure ulcer rates.

Medical librarians at Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Eskind Biomedical Library developed a rapid turnaround service to provide answers to medical queries from clinicians that are based on the latest evidence-based research.

Cambridge Health Alliance enhanced its round-the-clock interpreter services by tracking key indicators that gauge the quality of these services; analyses of these data led to significant improvements in the program's telephone-based services and staff efficiency and the decision to implement depression screening in patients with limited English proficiency.

Teens Against Tobacco Use™, a peer-to-peer mentorship program designed to educate youth on the dangers of tobacco use, was adapted for the Native American and Latino communities in Washington State.

Mayo Clinic therapists conduct remote cognitive rehabilitation sessions with traumatic brain injury patients who remain in or near their homes, thus enhancing access to care for those who find it difficult to travel for face-to-face sessions.

To highlight system-wide vulnerabilities identified through root cause analysis (RCA), Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has established an annual review of all findings. This review, known as common cause analysis or CCA, identifies themes that arise from the many recommended changes (action items) produced by RCA findings.

As part of a system-wide effort to transform inpatient care and eliminate preventable injuries and deaths, Seton Family of Hospitals developed and implemented a comprehensive set of practices that collectively led to a substantial reduction in the incidence of birth trauma.

St. Mary's Hospital Medical Center offers in-house, 24-hour pharmacy services via a fully automated dispenser that allows patients to have medication prescriptions filled at the point of care.

Group Health Cooperative implemented a systemwide online shared health record that empowers patients to share responsibility for their health and health care.

A process enabling patients and providers to reconcile two medication lists—one maintained by patients either manually or on a Web-based personal health record and one maintained by providers on an electronic medical record—improved medication list accuracy in the outpatient setting.

An enhanced chemotherapy dispensing process prioritizes orders for pharmacy processing based on when patients are expected to be on the unit and ready for their chemotherapy, leading to more timely medication administration.

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute uses safety rounds with staff and patients, supported by a toolkit, to promote a culture of safety and reduce medical errors by proactively identifying and addressing potential safety problems.