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Shady Grove Medical Center Neonatology Team Wins Quality and Patient Safety Excellence AwardMEDNAX, the national health solutions partner specializing in neonatal and other pediatric services, anesthesia, maternal-fetal, radiology, pediatric cardiology and other physician and management services, is pleased to announce that its neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) team at Adventist HealthCare (AHC) Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville, MD, was awarded the AHC Quality and Patient Safety Excellence Award. The award was given for the team's quality improvement project that reduced the incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC (News - Alert)), a devastating and often fatal disease that occurs in premature newborns, from nine percent to zero percent in the last five years. The winning quality improvement project entitled Getting to Zero: A Team-Based, Evidence-Based Approach to the Reduction of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in the Shady Grove Medical Center NICU was both championed and first authored by Dr. Nasir Rashid and managed by corporate medical director, Dr. Jim Rost, who oversees patient safety efforts for MEDNAX NICUs. Other contributors included Dr. Mike Sukumar, Elly Shaw-Belblidia, RD; Luna Tiglao, RN; Amy Gilkey, RN. The AHC Quality and Patient Safety Award annually recognizes a team within its system for an innovative improvement in health care delivery that protects patients and contributes to positive outcomes. This year, a review panel consisting of AHC board members, leaders and community members evaluated 11 submissions from across the AHC system. The panel scored entries on collaboration, leadership, sustainability and spread, ability to demonstrate change, innovation and a culture that advances patient safety. The Shady Grove Medical Center NICU team earned the top score. "The Shady Grove NICU team's project exemplifies how fresh thinking, collaboration and a multidisciplinary approach to problem solving can elevate the level of care we provide to our patients and save lives," said Susan Glover, Senior Vice President and Chief Qualityand Integrity Officer for AHQ. "The Adventist HealthCare Quality and Patient Safety Excellence Award is part of our company's commitment to a culture of safety and our way to inspire caregivers to continually do all they can to create the very best outcomes for our patients." Shady Grove Medical Center houses a high acuity, Level III perinatal-neonatal unit, which delivers 5,000 babies a year, including 150 premature newborns at highest risk for NEC. NEC is characterized by the death of most or all of the cells of the gastrointestinal tract which can lead to complications or death even with early, aggressive treatment. The incidence of NEC generally ranges from five percent to seven percent in premature babies with mortality as high as 25 percent to 30 percent in babies who require surgical intervention. In addition, NEC increases length of stay, is associated with worse neurodevelopmental outcomes and is a costly disease, accounting for 20 percent of annual NICU costs. Getting to Zero: A Team-Based, Evidence-Based Approach to the Reduction of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in the Shady Grove Medical Center NICU was done in conjunction with MEDNAX's 100,000 Babies Campaign, a national clinical quality initiative designed to improve patient care in the NICU by incorporating continuous quality improvement practices in everyday care. From 2007 to 2013, 100,000 Babies focused on five critical clinical practices and procedures used in neonatal care: enhancing nutrition, improving medication use, reducing central line infections, minimizing mechanical ventilation and reducing suboptimal admission temperatures and achieved the following results based on data from 420,000 babies in 330 NICUs, including Shady Grove Medical Center:
MEDNAX providers care for more than 110,000 neonatal patients in the country per year. ABOUT MEDNAX MEDNAX, Inc. (NYSE:MD) is a national health solutions partner comprised of the nation's leading providers of physician services. Physicians and advanced practitioners practicing as part of MEDNAX are reshaping the delivery of care within their specialties and subspecialties, using evidence-based tools, continuous quality initiatives, clinical research and telemedicine to enhance patient outcomes and provide high-quality, cost-effective care. The Company was founded in 1979, and today, through its affiliated professional corporations, MEDNAX provides services through a network of more than 3,300 physicians in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. In addition to its national physician network, MEDNAX provides services to healthcare facilities and physicians in over 40 states through two complementary businesses, consisting of a revenue cycle management company and a consulting services company. Additional information is available at www.mednax.com.
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