Quality, safety and high-reliability shine in the Christiana Care Way Awards

In opening remarks at the Christiana Care Way Awards ceremony, Janice E. Nevin, M.D., MPH, president and CEO of Christiana Care Health System, observed that the annual awards program reflects the innovative work and partnership of Christiana Care’s extraordinary people to achieve our organization’s strategic aims.

“Your projects and these awards recognize that we are always looking for ways to do better in our service to our community,” Dr. Nevin said. “As the extraordinary people of Christiana Care, you demonstrate your commitment and innovation, and it is an honor to acknowledge your work and the difference it makes every day.”

Newly renamed The Christiana Care Way awards, the original program dates back to the Performance Improvement Awards launched in 2002. The program challenges physicians, nurses and staff to identify opportunities for improvement, then collaborate in using the Plan-Do-Check-Act or Lean Six Sigma DMAIC models to develop and execute plans that achieve positive results.

“The quantity and diversity of the submissions have always adjusted to Christiana Care’s annual goals and operating plans, and the constant changes and improvements inspire innovation and cooperation,” said Sharon Anderson, MS, BSN, RN, FACHE, chief population health officer and senior vice president, Quality and Patient Safety.

Of the 145 sets of storyboards submitted for the 2016 contest, 43 winners were announced at the Jan. 17 event. Among the distinguished teams saluted at the event were traditional awards plus relatively new categories and the ever-popular People’s Choice Award. Here are a few examples of our 2016 winners:

The Christiana Care Way Presidents Award went to “Driving AOP Improvement Through an Interactive Dashboard,” a collaboration to design and build an interactive dashboard that increases transparency, improves access to actionable data to drive progress toward system aims, and creates one source of truth to support patient care unit reporting, pathway reporting and numerous other dashboards and teams.

The People’s Choice Award was awarded to “Decrease Wait Time From Call to New Cardiology Consult,” a project in which team members from Heart & Vascular Interventional Services, Non-Invasive Cardiology and Christiana Care Cardiology Consultants helped to decrease waiting time for patient access from 12.3 days to 4.9 days by standardizing morning office start times and using the Same Day Clinic for any new consult appointment.

Ten Magnet-related awards in three categories, including categories for Transformational Leadership, Exemplary Professional Practice and Structural Empowerment, were presented by Ric Cuming, Ed.D., RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, chief nurse executive. The Transformational Leadership Gold Award winner, “No Cost, Low Maintenance to Reduce LOS for 5B Medicine Observation Status Patients,” decreased length of stay for medical observation status patients by identifying observation patients during rounds and prioritizing orders and tests. As a result, length of stay for 5B patients decreased from 53.8 hours to 37.9 hours, while the percent of patients identified as observation status during patient-centered rounds increased from 31 percent to 77 percent, and the percent of patient tests that are prioritized increased from 34 percent to 89 percent.

During the awards program, Christiana Care also recognized 127 Zero Harm Awards and three Good Catch Award winners for 2016.

The Zero Harm program recognizes the achievement of zero preventable patient harm for 12 consecutive months for any single harm measure, such as C-diff infection, central-line-associated bloodstream and other infections, falls with no major injury, and hospital-acquired pressure ulcers. Zero Harm awards highlight the achievement of high reliability and innovative approaches to enhance patient safety.

Good Catch Awards recognize the prevention of patient harm through vigilance and awareness of the environment that affects patient care. This year’s winners were Lauren Camposano, BSN, CCRN, of the Medical Intensive Care Unit, Carmen Figueroa, PCT, of the Wilmington Hospital ACE Unit, and Courtney Utberg, RN, of the Neuro Critical Care unit.

2016 Christiana Care Way Awards

• People’s Choice Award – “Decrease Wait Time From Call to New Cardiology Consult”
• Residents’ Award – “Allow Me To Debrief: Improving Code Blues Across Christiana”
• Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Competency Excellence Award – “Reach Out and Feed”
• Population Health Award
  • Silver – “Breast Tomosynthesis Adding Value to Patients at the Breast Center in HFGCC”
  • Gold – “The Incidental Nodule: The Right Information, to the Right Person, at the Right Time”
• Operational Improvement Awards
  • Honorable Mention – “Improving Primary Care Provider Adherence with Chronic Opioid Therapy Documentation”
  • Bronze – “Improving Observation Length of Stay (LOS)”
  • Silver – “Reduce Lead Time for Christiana Care Vascular Specialty Service Patients”
  • Gold – “Calculating the Results of Wound Packing”
• Learning Excellence Awards
  • Bronze – “Road to Lung Protection”
  • Silver – “Medication History Technicians Invade ED”
  • Gold – “HVIS Stroke Code Efficiency Project — Saving Brains One Minute at a Time”
• Magnet Transformational Leadership Awards
  • Bronze – “2C Unit Acquired Pressure Ulcer Prevention — Next Steps and New Ideas!”
  • Silver – “No Cost, Low Maintenance to Reduce LOS for 5B Medicine Observation Status Patients”
  • Gold – “Collaborating for CLABSI Prevention in Hematology & Oncology Patients”
• Magnet Exemplary Professional Practice Awards
  • Honorable Mention – “Innovative Alarm Redesign Reduces Patient Harm Related to Falls”
  • Bronze – “# SIDE EFFECTS”
  • Silver – “Achieving Stars by Raising the Bar!”
  • Gold – “Improving Barcode Scanning on 4D”
• Magnet New Knowledge, Innovations & Improvement Awards
  • Silver – “Sudden Unexpected Postnatal Collapse Syndrome”
  • Gold – “Engaging Frontline Staff in Reducing Discharge Times on Mother Baby Unit”
• Magnet Structural Empowerment
  • Silver – “Building an Education Empire”
  • Gold – “CLABSI Prevention: An Educator’s Approach”
• Innovative Tools Awards
  • Silver – “DAZZLE WITH DAZO”
  • Gold – “1.8 Billion Brain Cells Saved”
• Extraordinary People Award – “Transforming Nursing Care Delivery”
• Strategic Partnerships Awards
  • Silver – “Preparing for Ebola and Other Emerging Infections”
  • Gold – “SNF Collaboration to Improve Outcomes”
• Organizational Vitality Award – “Improving the Return on Investment in Robotic Surgery”
• Exceptional Experience Awards
  • Silver – “Culture of Quiet: A Team Approach to Quiet Environment”
  • Gold – “Time to First Hold: Decreasing Time to Parents’ First Hold of Infants in the NICU”
• Optimal Health Quality Awards
  • Honorable Mention – “Multidisciplinary Trach Team Decannulation Project”
  • Bronze – “In-Hospital Stroke Response Team”
  • Silver – “Clinical Care Pathway to Transform NSTEMI Care Delivery in Acute Hospital Setting”
  • Gold – “Developing The Joint Replacement Preoperative Assessment Center (JPAC)”
• Optimal Health Safety Awards
  • Bronze – “Does It Fit? Improving Physician N95 Fit-testing Compliance”
  • Silver – “OB Hemorrhage — Are You Ready?”
  • Gold – “Let’s C-difference in Our Care”
• Value Award – “Choosing Wisely — Decision Making for Ordering Clinically Appropriate Lab Tests”
• Best Learning Through Failure Award – “Post-op Medication Reconciliation for Surgical Inpatients”
• Transformation Awards
  • Silver – “Goals of Care — A Patient-Centered Approach to Treatment”
  • Gold – “Sustaining the Gain with Falls”
• President’s Award – “Driving AOP Improvement Through an Interactive Dashboard”

Photo gallery: 2016 Christiana Care Way Awards