Colorado 5 Million Lives Campaign

Colorado Hospitals: Putting Safety First (video)
Some of Colorado’s leading health leaders explore what it means to put patient safety first, ensure medication reconciliation, prevent infections and respond rapidly to emergencies.

More than 40,000 incidents of medical harm occur in the United States every day, making medical errors the fifth leading cause of death nationwide, according to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). To help implement and strengthen systems and safeguards that prevent such problems as hospital-acquired infections, adverse drug events, surgical errors, pressure ulcers and other medical complications, IHI launched the national 5 Million Lives Campaign to prevent five million incidents of harm over two years. Through the affiliated Colorado 5 Million Lives Campaign, The Colorado Trust awarded grants to 54 acute care hospitals to participate in the campaign by voluntarily strengthening their quality improvement systems that ensure safer patient care.

During this 18-month effort, the hospitals implemented up to 12 quality improvement interventions, ranging from better safety measures to more timely medical responses. These interventions have reduced medication errors and decreased adverse events and medical response times, while also improving communication and patient-centered care. For example, Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs set a goal of zero hospital-acquired pressure ulcers and has achieved - and maintained - that outcome since June 2008 by refining its pressure ulcer screening tool, screening all patients for risk upon admission and acquiring pressure-relieving mattresses for high-risk patients. In Pueblo, Parkview Medical Center set out to reduce medication errors by developing a medication tracking and reporting system. Out of hundreds of thousands of medication doses that the hospital administers each month, approximately 1,000 are now canceled at bedside, representing near misses that may not have been caught by an attending nurse. And St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver reduced its rate of unexpected cardiac arrests by establishing a resuscitation team, nearly tripling its rapid response activations.

Partners in the Colorado 5 Million Lives Campaign also included the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care, Colorado Hospital Association, Colorado Rural Health Center, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment/WELLS Center and SE2.