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May 2 - San Francisco Collaborative Curtails Area Infection Rates

The Beacon Collaborative, a voluntary affiliation of 39 hospitals in five San Francisco Bay Area counties, recently announced that reductions in the occurrence of two major types of hospital infections between April 1, 2006, and December 31, 2007, saved approximately 194 lives. The estimate of lives saved is based on a statistical analysis of mortality for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), and central line-associated bloodstream infections (CL-BSI), two infections that frequently occur in hospital intensive care units.

During the 21-month study period, hospitals participating in the collaborative reduced VAP by 60% and CL-BSI by 66%. This resulted in 720 fewer infections than projected during the study period. The VAP improvement exceeds the best results reported by the National Healthcare Safety Network for 2006. The CL-BSI improvement meets or exceeds results reported in December 2006 in the New England Journal of Medicine for the highly respected Keystone Center for Patient Safety & Quality in Michigan.

Nationally, VAP accounts for more than 35,000 annual deaths, at a cost of $9,969 per infection, and CL-BSI is estimated to result in 10,000 to 21,000 deaths per year, at a cost of $36,441 per infection. Based on the Beacon analysis, the 120 lives saved by reducing VAP saved approximately $1.2 million, and the 74 lives saved by reducing CL-BSI infections saved approximately $2.7 million.

In addition to VAP and CL-BSI, Beacon hospitals select from 10 other initiatives to track progress, compare results against Beacon-wide averages, and share the evidence-based tools and techniques needed to reduce errors that often lead to injury or death.

The other initiatives are acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, medication reconciliation, rapid response teams, surgical care improvement, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, high-alert medication harm prevention, hospital-acquired pressure ulcer prevention, stroke, and sepsis. Most hospitals are working on six or more initiatives.

Source: Beacon Collaborative

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