SonoSite Recognizes Memorial Hermann Healthcare System for Patient Safety Excellence and Leadership
22 July 2011 - 1:30AM
Business Wire
SonoSite, Inc. (Nasdaq:SONO), the world leader and
specialist in bedside ultrasound for point-of-care medicine,
congratulates Memorial Hermann Healthcare System (Memorial
Hermann), one of the Nation’s largest non-profit healthcare
systems, for its excellence in delivering the highest level of
patient safety by achieving “inspiring” safety results previously
never thought possible. Four years ago, Memorial Hermann instituted
a network-wide patient safety initiative as a part of its “journey
to providing high reliability healthcare” and to meet national
patient safety goals. To reward safety success stories, the
healthcare system created a “Certified Zero High Reliability Award”
acknowledging facilities that achieved a zero complication rate for
a full year or more for certain events and procedures. By
introducing new safety protocols, including the integration of
ultrasound guidance for central line placement, several of Memorial
Hermann’s hospitals have successfully prevented and/or eliminated
adverse outcomes and reduced costs from complications. One
significant complication is an iatrogenic pneumothorax, or a
collapsed lung. This serious and potentially lethal complication
can easily occur with a misguided needle during the placement of a
central line or thoracentesis. Remarkably, multiple Memorial
Hermann facilities were able to attain a zero complication rate for
iatrogenic pneumothoraces for more than a full year.
Raising the standard for hospitals around the globe, the
following facilities received the “Certified Zero High Reliability
Award” for zero iatrogenic pneumothoraces: Memorial Hermann
Southeast Hospital, Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital,
Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital and eight community hospital
“emergency departments” that receive more than 370,000 patient
visits per year and place more than 100 central lines per
month.
“Two years ago, we set the expectation that all central line
insertions by our emergency physicians be performed with ultrasound
guidance,” said David C. Pelini, M.D., Senior Vice President,
Regional Medical Director, TeamHealth West, Emergency
Services-Memorial Hermann Healthcare System. “We then developed and
implemented an ultrasound training program to ensure all physicians
acquired the skills to completely utilize ultrasound for central
vascular access. As a result, our department has an excellent
success and safety profile and many of our physicians commented
that ultrasound has made complex vascular access easier and
increased their confidence under various difficult
circumstances.”
Before the use of bedside ultrasound, physicians would
traditionally perform needle-placement procedures blindly by using
physical landmark techniques, which unfortunately can lead to a
higher risk of complications or potentially lethal outcomes.
Real-time ultrasound guidance allows the physician to have full
visualization of the needle trajectory, which increases procedural
success while ensuring that critical structures are avoided. In
fact, a recent study illustrates the safety and economic
benefits of using ultrasound visualization to guide a
thoracentesis, further proving that bedside ultrasound can lower
the risk of complications (pneumothoraces), and in result, reduce
costs caused from complications and length of stay in the
hospital.
Spearheading the patient safety initiative and the integration
of bedside ultrasound at Memorial Hermann is M. Michael Shabot,
M.D., the healthcare system’s Chief Medical Officer. “We are
pleased to change practices and behaviors whenever we have an
opportunity to improve safety. As our governing Board has clearly
stated, ‘Safety is our Core Value.’”
Dr. Shabot continued, “There is overwhelming evidence in the
literature and from our own hospitals that central lines should not
cause a pneumothorax, so this can no longer be considered an
accepted complication of line placement. The integration of
ultrasound guidance has been essential to the success of our
facilities’ zero complication rates for iatrogenic pneumothorax and
we simply could not have achieved those goals without it.”
“We are very proud of our excellent outcomes and feel very
confident that with consistent use of ultrasound guidance, we can
continue to keep our rate of iatrogenic pneumothorax at zero,” said
Mayank C. Patel, M.D., Chair of Critical Care Medicine, Memorial
Hermann Southeast Hospital.
“Memorial Hermann’s experience is further corroboration of the
value that ultrasound can have on patient safety and healthcare,”
said Kevin M. Goodwin, SonoSite President and CEO. “We are
motivated by the success of their hospital network and are excited
to honor them with the SonoSite ‘Star Award,’ a new initiative
developed by our company to recognize health systems for reaching
tremendous patient safety goals that were thought to be
unattainable. Memorial Hermann is the first hospital to inspire the
SonoSite ‘Star Award’ and we look forward to congratulating more
networks for their leadership and contributions to patient
safety.”
Please click here to access additional information on
Memorial Hermann.
About SonoSite
SonoSite, Inc. (www.sonosite.com) is the innovator and world
leader in bedside and point-of-care ultrasound and an industry
leader in ultra high-frequency micro-ultrasound technology and
impedance cardiography equipment. Headquartered near Seattle, the
company is represented by fourteen subsidiaries and a global
distribution network in over 100 countries. SonoSite’s small,
lightweight systems are expanding the use of ultrasound across the
clinical spectrum by cost-effectively bringing high-performance
ultrasound to the point of patient care.
About the Memorial Hermann System
An integrated health system, Memorial Hermann is known for
world-class clinical expertise, patient-centered care, leading edge
technology, and innovation. The system, with its exceptional
medical staff and more than 20,000 employees, serves southeast
Texas and the greater Houston community. Memorial Hermann’s 11
hospitals include three hospitals in the Texas Medical Center,
including a level 1 trauma center, a hospital for children and a
rehabilitation hospital, as well as three heart & vascular
institute locations and eight suburban hospitals. The system also
operates an air ambulance, cancer, imaging and surgery centers,
sports medicine and rehabilitation centers, outpatient
laboratories, a Wellness Center, a chemical dependency treatment
center, a home health agency, a retirement community and a nursing
home. To learn more, visit www.memorialhermann.org, or call
713.222.CARE.
Sonos (NASDAQ:SONO)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Sonos (NASDAQ:SONO)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024