Sixty patients died unexpectedly while receiving care at the University of Virginia Medical Center last year, according to Executive Vice President of Health Affairs Richard Shannon. This year, he says doctors are on track to drastically reduce that number.
At a June 3 seminar called First Do No Harm, Shannon presented the health system’s efforts to improve safety and patient care.
“Please raise your hand if you’d like to get an infection when you come to the hospital,” he asked, adding that patients receive 1.7 million infections in hospitals annually, which can be attributed to 100,000 deaths. In the U.S. last year, a trillion bucks was spent on harm, failures, overtreatment, fraud and abuse in hospitals, he added.
As part of his almost 2-year-old Be Safe structure, also adopted by the National Institutes of Health’s clinical center, 725 UVA staff are now trained in “lean thinking,” a business model that aims to eliminate waste. In this case, it’s saving cash.
So far, the practice has spared the hospital several million dollars in expenses, including $4.2 million saved from 109 fewer pediatric infections, $1.83 million in 53 fewer sepsis deaths and over $3 million in a 95 percent reduction of wasted medical supplies.
However, 96 fewer worker injuries, says Shannon, is “priceless.”