Children's Wisconsin Celebrates Safety Week 2025
SPS is celebrating Safety Week on March 9-15! In celebration of #SPSsafetyweek2025, we’re highlighting the awesome patient and employee safety improvement work within our organizations! Next up is Children's Wisconsin, who earned the title of SPS Hospital of the Month in January. This accolade highlights their dedication to improving healthcare outcomes and ensuring the well-being of their patients.
Data Submission Excellence
Children's Wisconsin achieved a remarkable milestone by submitting 100% of their Hospital-Acquired Conditions (HACs) outcome and process reliability data. This thoroughness and transparency is a testament to their commitment to excellence.
Reducing Harm: A Success Story
Children's Wisconsin has made significant strides in reducing harm, particularly in the areas of Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSI) and Unplanned Extubations (UE).
CLABSI:
Policy Update and Education: The hospital updated its CLABSI policy and implemented an education module, along with leader and champion rounding, to ensure staff were well-versed in the new guidelines.
Blood Culture Draw Kit: A new blood culture draw kit was introduced to minimize the risk of contamination during collection.
Patient Behavioral Events:
Prevention: A Behavioral Risk Screen was added to the Admission Navigator in Epic, becoming a mandatory screen on June 4, 2024. Additionally, Behavioral PPE Carts and visual management tools were rolled out starting May 6, 2024.
Response: Weekly Patient Behavioral Event (PBE) Safety Huddles began on March 8, 2024, fostering collaboration between the Safety Department, Behavioral Assessment Team (BAT), and Employee Health and Wellness (EHW).
Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injuries (HAPI):
Reduction Achievements: The hospital achieved a 27% decrease in hospital-acquired pressure injuries and a 52% reduction in Stage 3, 4, and unstageable pressure injuries.
Innovative Approaches: The addition of a Provider Leader to the HAPI team and a focus on reducing pressure injuries related to hairstyles, including plans to bring in an in-house hair stylist/barber.
Unplanned Extubations:
Significant Decrease: The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) saw a 47% decrease in unplanned extubations from 2023, with the rate dropping from 0.820 to 0.241 by August 2024, surpassing the goal of 0.656.
Peripheral Intravenous Infiltration and Extravasation (PIVIE):
Improved Response Time: The NICU team piloted a change allowing bedside nurses to prepare antidotes instead of pharmacists, significantly reducing the time from infiltrate recognition to antidote administration. This successful pilot is set to expand to other inpatient units.
Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI):
Proactive Engagement: Weekly bedside rounding with frontline staff of patients with indwelling urinary catheters has led to valuable discussions, trialing new securement devices, enhancing EHR documentation, and sometimes removing catheters promptly.
We would like to extend our gratitude to the dedicated individuals who were vital in this work at Children's Wisconsin: Tanya Epping, Colleen Furey, Sarah Heinig, Cavan McNeely, Holly O'Brien, Katie Walczak, and Matt Zeman. Their commitment and collaborative efforts have been instrumental in achieving these remarkable outcomes.
Children's Wisconsin shows inspiring dedication to safety and quality care. Their innovative, collaborative efforts greatly improve patient outcomes and set a high standard in healthcare. We celebrate their accomplishments and look forward to their continued efforts in improving healthcare safety.