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U.VA. INTENSIVE CARE UNITS RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE

The Society of Critical Care Medicine has cited U.Va. as one of only a few hospitals to achieve excellence in efforts to reduce medical errors. The U.Va. Medical, Surgical and Trauma Intensive Care Units (ICUs) are recognized on the organization's web site for instituting highly efficient procedures that reduce the chance of error:

  • The Medical ICU's Pulmonary Suite employs four advanced practice nurses to serve as continual outcomes managers of the four-bed unit, where chronically ill patients are weaned from long-term mechanical ventilation. Guidelines for the new system were developed by a multidisciplinary team of clinicians selected from five adult critical care units at U.Va. Analysis of results over an 18-month period showed a statistically significant decrease in how long ventilators were used for each patient, an estimated cost savings of $4 million, and improved care of patients by the assigned outcomes managers compared to the former rotating-staff system.
  • The Trauma ICU was cited for excellence in achieving lower mortality rates because of its centralized management by one specialist who ensures uniformity of care and adherence to evidence-based care guidelines.
  • The Surgical ICU successfully reduced the incidence of infection using a dual drug rotation regimen of antibiotics for patients with infections or pneumonia, instead of a single drug rotation regimen. A 30-month study found the dual drug rotation regimen to be superior, with infection rate reduced by 24 percent and death rate after infection reduced by 70 percent. The study results were published last year in the journal Critical Care Management.

I believe that U.Va.'s approaches to reducing infectious morbidity and mortality in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit would be broadly applicable in many hospitals, said the study's senior author Dr. Robert G. Sawyer, associate professor in the Department of Surgery at U.Va. We hope the Society's recognition of the improved systems in our intensive care units will facilitate their use as possible models by other hospitals.

August 30, 2002