Three hospitals achieved a more than 60 percent reduction in pressure injuries through a collaborative project with the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare.
The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento (Calif.) Hospital and Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital in Houston participated in the initiative.
The organizations used a robust process improvement strategy — a combination of Lean, Six Sigma and formal change management tactics — to identify and address root causes of pressure injuries.
The hospitals reported an average 55 percent relative reduction in intensive care unit pressure injuries between May 2018 and December 2019. This figure jumped to 62 percent from January to April of this year when the U.S. began grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The improvements translated into total cost savings of $15.3 million over the length of the project, the hospitals said.
Learn more about the initiative here.
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