The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has
awarded nearly $3 million for a contract
aimed at reducing central line-associated bloodstream
infections in hospital intensive care units to a
consortium made up of Johns Hopkins and the Michigan Health
& Hospital Association. The Health
Research & Educational Trust, an affiliate of the American
Hospital Association, will coordinate the
three-year program as part of AHRQ's overall initiative to
reduce health care-associated infections.
The new program builds on a highly successful safety
checklist and program developed by Peter
J. Pronovost, a Johns Hopkins professor of anesthesiology
and critical care medicine, and of surgery,
and his Quality
and Safety Research Group within the School of
Medicine's Department of
Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine. When implemented
in Michigan in partnership with the
MHA, participating hospitals reduced catheter-related
bloodstream infections by up to 66 percent
using a simple checklist of evidence-based precautions.
Often referred to as central venous catheters, central
line catheters are tubes that are placed
into a large vein in a patient's neck, chest or groin for
administering medication or fluids or for
collecting blood samples. Each year, an estimated 250,000
cases of central line-associated
bloodstream infections occur in hospitals in the United
States, and an estimated 30,000 to 62,000
patients who get the infections die as a result, according
to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
"Working with our team, the state of Michigan nearly
eliminated these infections," Pronovost
said. "Now with support from AHRQ, we will extend our work
to 10 more states saving thousands of
lives and millions of dollars. Just as we nearly eliminated
polio, we can nearly eliminate these infections
and, in doing so, build capacity to tackle the next health
care ill."
Under the new AHRQ contract, the safety program will
be implemented by statewide consortia
in at least 10 states. The consortia, which will be
established as part of this project, will include
members of state hospital associations, quality improvement
organizations and public health agencies.
The new project will be funded through AHRQ's
Accelerating Change and Transformation in
Organizations and Networks initiative, an implementation
model of field-based research designed to
promote innovation in health care delivery by accelerating
the diffusion of research into practice.
Pronovost, the founding director of the Quality and
Safety Research Group, also serves as
medical director of Johns
Hopkins' Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care
and is a member of
JHH's Patient Safety Committee. He also has a faculty
appointment in the Department of Health
Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School
of Public Health.
Earlier this year, Pronovost was named one of the
world's "most influential people" of 2008 by
Time magazine for his work in patient safety. The
magazine's annual list recognizes people "whose
power, talent or moral example is transforming our world."
In September, the John D. and Catherine
T. MacArthur Foundation awarded a $500,000 "genius grant"
to Pronovost, and the House of
Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform, chaired by Henry A. Waxman (D-
Calif.), recently released a report strongly endorsing
Pronovost's program, noting that its use has the
potential to save thousands of lives and millions of
dollars throughout the United States.
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