Winners of the Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award Announced
The National Quality Forum (NQF) and The Joint Commission announced the 2015 winners of the John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award, last Friday. The award, named after the former head of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, recognizes those who have made great achievements in the arena of patient safety and quality.
Individual Achievement Award—Pascale Carayon, PhD, Procter & Gamble Bascom Professor in Total Quality, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Pascale Carayon was honored for her work advancing both human factors engineering concepts and methods, and the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety model. She was also recognized for mentoring new leaders in this arena at the national and international level.
Local Level Award—Mayo Clinic Hospital-Rochester, Minnesota
By engaging its staff, using a multidisciplinary team approach, identifying possible interventions, and developing an effective toolkit, the Mayo Clinic Hospital-Rochester was able to cut catheter-associated urinary tract infections rates by 70% in its facility.
National Level Award—Premier, Inc., Charlotte, North Carolina
In 2008, Premier developed the national quality improvement initiative QUEST® (Quality, Efficiency, Safety and Transparency) to help health systems reliably deliver an efficient, effective, and caring experience for every patient. In the eight years since its inception, the QUEST program has enabled easy data sharing between 350 volunteer health systems and saved 176,000 lives and more than $15 billion in healthcare costs.
“We are pleased to honor Pascale Carayon for devoting her entire career to improving health care safety, as well as the contributions of all those who were a part of Mayo Clinic’s efforts to reduce CAUTI, and the Premier collaborative. All of them have made a great impact on the care of patients and should be commended,” said Mark R. Chassin, MD, FACP, MPP, MPH, president and CEO, The Joint Commission. “They have all worked to find solutions to some tough issues in health care that have defied easy fixes. Through their use of innovative quality improvement approaches, they are making a difference in the lives of patients.”
Read more about the 2015 John M. Eisenberg Awards here.