Thursday, May 31, 2012

Four of Seven Organizations Honored by The Partnership for Excellence are from Indiana!

On May 8, The Partnership for Excellence (TPE) announced its 2012 Award Winners. Of the 7 award recipients, 4 are from Indiana!

The Indiana organizations are:
  • Citizens Energy Group (Indianapolis) - Platinum, Governer's Award for Excellence.
  • Good Samaritan Hospital (Vincennes) - Silver, Commitment to Excellence.
  • Westfield Washington Schools (Westfield) - Silver, Commitment to Excellence.
  • Working Well, (Michigan City) - Bronze, Pledge to Excellence.
2012 is the first year that Indiana has had a local or regional Baldrige-based performance excellence award program. The Fall of this year is also the first time that Baldrige Examiner training will be offered in Indiana (VHA Central office, Indianapolis). Note that this training is to specifically serve TPE, not the national Baldrige program.

To learn more about TPE: http://www.thepartnershipforexcellence.org/
To learn more about Baldrige Examiner training offered by the TPE: http://www.thepartnershipforexcellence.org/doc/2012_Call_for_Examiners_03-13-12.doc

The full press release announcing the 2012 TPE Award Recepitants is here: http://www.thepartnershipforexcellence.org/html/press_releases/press_release_05-08-12_Award_Recipients_2012.htm

Joint Commission Publishes new Monograph about CLABSIs

On May 16th, the Joint Commission released a new Monograph reviewing the most recent evidence and thoughts surrounding Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections.

The free monograph can be downloaded here: http://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/18/CLABSI_Monograph.pdf

Below is an excerpt from the press release announcing the free monograph (emphasis added in red):


New Monograph Aims to Decrease Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSIs)

The Joint Commission, in collaboration with Joint Commission Resources (JCR) and Joint Commission International (JCI), developed a new monograph containing the most current information, evidence-based guidance and resources to help health care organizations reduce the current risks and resulting harm associated with CLABSI. JCR and JCI are not-for-profit affiliates of The Joint Commission. The monograph was produced in partnership with infection prevention leaders from the Society for Hospital Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (APIC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the Association for Vascular Access (AVA), and the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC). In addition, several other domestic and international infection prevention leaders from countries such as Argentina, Australia, Egypt, Switzerland, Thailand and Saudi Arabia have lent their expertise to the monograph.

“Recent patient safety initiatives have demonstrated how preventable CLABSIs can be when evidence-based guidelines are consistently put into practice at the bedside,” says Jerod M. Loeb, Ph.D., executive vice president, Division of Healthcare Quality Evaluation, The Joint Commission. “Our hope is that these resources will empower health care providers to implement practices that have been shown to not only improve patient safety, but also reduce costs.”

The project is supported by a research grant from Baxter Healthcare Corporation and focuses on the identification and broad dissemination of preferred practices and technological solutions to prevent CLABSI.