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Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Awarded 2007 Innovative Solutions Award

Shriners Hospital for Children Is Runner-up

Monday, March 09, 2009

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is the 2007 recipient of the Greater Cincinnati Health Council's second annual Innovative Solutions Award, created to celebrate unique approaches to clinical or non-clinical hospital process improvements, patient care initiatives or innovative / creative change projects. The Innovative Solutions Award was presented to Cincinnati Children's at the Health Council's eleventh annual Solutions Conference and Expo on February 28 at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center.

Cincinnati Children's won for its project to change the outcome of ventilator patients in critical care units. For the project, an internal improvement collaborative was organized among the hospital's three critical care units. The team worked to reduce ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) by 50 percent in each of the units, via accelerated clinical improvement experiments and the spread of best practices resulting from these rapid cycle tests. Each of the three participating critical care units demonstrated a substantial decrease in VAP rates, having decreased the incidence of VAP from 62 cases in 2004 to six cases in 2006 -- a 90 percent reduction.

In addition, Shriners Hospital for Children was named runner-up. Shriners was recognized for its project to redesign portable suction equipment cases to benefit patients with tracheostomies. The commercially obtained cases that were used can become contaminated with microorganisms of concern, and those microorganisms can be difficult to remove from the cases. These cases, if not successfully disinfected, can present a risk to patients. The team designed a denim case with a washable synthetic fiber to provide shape. The cloth cases care less expensive than the commercial cases and can be readily disinfected.

To apply for the award, each area hospital had the opportunity to submit one project for consideration. The winner and runner-up were selected from a group of 11 total projects. The award selection panel primarily considered the project's level of innovation. Other factors included project applicability, implementation and outcomes. Judges for this year's award were: Valerie Berry, Orthopaedic Diagnostic and Treatment Center; Mendy Mazzo, SKANSKA; Amy Perkins, Cincinnati Bell; Will Scott, The Fortress, Inc.; and Shiloh Turner, The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati.

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, one of the leading pediatric research institutions in the nation, is dedicated to changing the outcome for children throughout the world. Cincinnati Children's ranks second among all pediatric institutions in the United States in grants from the National Institutes of Health. It has an established tradition of research excellence, with discoveries including the Sabin oral polio vaccine, the surfactant preparation that saves the lives of thousands of premature infants each year, and a rotavirus vaccine that saves the lives of hundreds of thousands of infants around the world each year. Current strategic directions include the translation of basic laboratory research into the development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of disease, and furthering the development of personalized and predictive medicine.