FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
Don Jewler, ACCC Communications Director
301.984.9496, ext. 208
djewler@accc-cancer.org
For Immediate Release: February 1, 2006
100,000 Lives Campaign Aims to Save Lives Through Improved Safety
Cancer Programs Focus on Prevention of Adverse Drug Events
ROCKVILLE, MD—More than 3,000 hospitals have joined the 100,000 Lives Campaign, a national initiative to dramatically improve patient care and prevent avoidable deaths launched by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in December 2004.
“The Campaign could save 100,000 lives each year if every hospital in the country participated, 60,000 through rapid deployment alone,” said Beth Meagher, Eastern Region Field Coordinator for the IHI’s 100,000 Lives Campaign. She will speak at the Association of Community Cancer Centers’ 32nd Annual National Meeting to be held in Arlington, Va., March 14-17, 2006.
Meagher will provide the latest updates on the status nationwide of the 100,000 Lives Campaign. She will also explore innovative approaches to improving patient safety in hospitals and cancer programs, including the use of rapid response teams that can respond within minutes when a nurse or other staff member thinks a patient is losing ground.
The 100,000 Lives Campaign challenges hospitals to raise the standard of care by involving everyone, from senior leaders to front-line staff, in the improvement process, including regularly assessing and measuring progress. In addition to rapid response teams, the campaign focuses on five other interventions that have been proven to prevent unnecessary complications and deaths: evidence-based care for acute myocardial infarction patients; and prevention of adverse drug events, central line infections, surgical site infections, and ventilator-associated pneumonia.
Cancer programs are particularly concerned with medication reconciliation in chemotherapy and supportive care regimens to prevent adverse drug events. Drugs must be reviewed and updated; orders must be communicated appropriately throughout the different stages of a patient’s hospital stay.
“It’s critical that an accurate list of a patient’s medications travel every time there’s a hand-off in care— from the ICU to the hospital bed, from the hospital and outpatient center to home, from the hospital to a nursing facility,” said Meagher.
The Association of Community Cancer Centers provides a national forum for addressing issues that affect community cancer programs, such as regulatory and legislative issues, measurements of the quality of care, and clinical research. Its unique membership of more than 650 hospital cancer programs and oncology private practices includes all members of the cancer care team: medical and radiation oncologists, surgeons, cancer program administrators and medical directors, oncology nurses, pharmacists, radiation therapists, oncology social workers, and cancer program data managers.
