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The Froedtert Hospital Insulin Patient Safety Team received the 2005 Baxter Excellence in Patient Safety Award from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the largest specialty nursing organization in the world. This prestigious award recognizes the work this multidisciplinary team did to improve overall patient safety related to insulin therapy.
The project came out of the hospital’s Six Sigma quality improvement program. It was driven by recognition that insulin therapy can be error-prone and recent research that ties normalized glycemic control to significantly improved mortality, complications and infection rates.
The Insulin Patient Safety team included physicians, nurses, a pharmacist, a dietitian and a consumer. The goal was to decrease the frequency and severity of hypoglycemia while improving overall glycemic control.
The team reviewed and analyzed a variety of records and data to establish baseline glycemic control and hyperglycemia rates. The team then developed appropriate treatment protocols and universal patient safety features. The program was piloted in the Surgical Intensive Care and when analyzed, the results showed significant improvements, including improved standardization of hypoglycemia treatment and reduced frequency and severity of hypoglycemia.
The new guidelines were then approved and formally implemented throughout the hospital in December 2003. Even today, an inpatient diabetes management team provides daily surveillance of hospital-wide hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia and works to improve overall diabetes management.
The award, which included a $2,000 honorarium, was presented at the AACN’s Annual National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition in New Orleans in May, 2005. Rich Gillard, RN, BSN, CCRN and Cindy Schmidt-Maynard, RN, BSN accepted the award on behalf of the team, which also included Dr. Irene O’Shaughnessy (Endocrinology), Dr. Renae Stafford (Trauma Surgery), Beth Lanham, RN, Six Sigma Black Belt; Julie Kuenzi, APRN, CDE, BC-ADM, Diabetes and Endocrine Center Supervisor; Noreen Leach, Registered Dietician; Gail Shayhorn, RN 4NE; Linda Guddie, RPh; and Mary Lu Weigel RN, CDE.
The work of the Insulin Patient Safety Team stands out as a clear example of Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin’s commitment to excellence and focus on delivering better patient outcomes. Congratulations to the team!
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