Press Release

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For release Aug. 22, 2005

Contra Costa Regional Medical Center (CCRMC) in Martinez has joined 2,700 other hospitals around the country in a national campaign to save 100,000 lives over the next year.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 100,000 Lives Campaign is the first ever nation-wide initiative seeking to save a specific number of lives by a certain date, June 14, 2006. The idea is to improve health care delivery by using one or more of six intervention strategies, such as standardizing medication processes to reduce adverse drug reactions and allowing any staff member to deploy rapid response specialty teams to examine a patient at first sign of decline.

CCRMC will undertake all six strategies thanks to a $30,000 grant from Blue Shield of California Foundation, which is providing some participating California hospitals with scholarships, said Steven Tremain, MD, CCRMC's Director of System Redesign and Senior Medical Director.

"The campaign is an excellent opportunity for CCRMC, particularly because it is so compatible with our ongoing efforts to redesign service delivery and allows us to collaborate with other hospitals on a national level," Tremain said. "It will save lives and help us improve patient care."

CCRMC will use the grant money to help pay for data collection, patient and staff education and to tap national experts as needed, he said. While CCRMC already uses some of the interventions, the grant will help the hospital expand the use of these interventions throughout the facility, he said.

The four other intervention strategies include: preventing central venous catheter-related bloodstream infections, averting surgical site infections, stopping ventilator-associated pneumonia and improving standard operating procedures for admitting cardiac patients.

"These interventions involve multi-disciplinary tasks and staff at all levels," Tremain said. "The campaign recognizes that medicine is a team sport requiring everyone to work together."

The campaign is endorsed by the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other organizations.

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