Johns Hopkins Medicine and All Children’s Hospital Leaders Recognized as Top Experts in Patient Safety

USA - English

• USA - English

St. Petersburg, FL (PRWEB) April 28, 2015 -- Two leaders in patient safety from the Johns Hopkins Health System were named to Becker's Hospital Review’s list of 50 Experts Leading the Field of Patient Safety. Peter Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality and senior vice president for patient safety and quality at Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Brigitta Mueller, M.D., M.H.C.M., vice president of medical affairs and chief patient safety officer at All Children’s Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine, were both recognized as top patient safety experts.

The list of experts includes advocates, professors, researchers, administrators and health care providers who have won awards, published articles, spoken out and led initiatives to reduce harm and ensure safety. This is the third year Becker’s has selected leaders in the area of patient safety after considering nominations from across the United States.

Pronovost is recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on patient safety and has published more than 750 articles. He has developed a scientifically proven method for reducing the deadly infections associated with central line catheters. His simple but effective checklist protocol virtually eliminated such infections in intensive care units (ICUs) across the state of Michigan, saving 1,500 lives and $100 million annually. These results have been sustained for more than 10 years. Moreover, the checklist protocol has been implemented across the United States, state by state, reducing the rate of bloodstream infections in the nation’s ICUs by 80 percent. The protocol’s success has prompted the spread of the central line-associated bloodstream infection prevention program to ICUs in the United Kingdom, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. The New Yorker says Pronovost’s “work has already saved more lives than that of any laboratory scientist in the past decade.” Building on his long-standing effort to study and improve ICU care, Pronovost is now applying a systems engineering approach to patient safety that aims to eliminate several preventable harms, instead of just one.

Mueller oversees a full spectrum of pediatric quality and safety initiatives, and she plays a key role in focusing on a culture of safety and academic transformation at All Children’s Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine in St. Petersburg, Florida. She has implemented many safety and quality efficiencies, including adding a daily operational call that allows all staff members to discuss safety events and potential risks to help hospital leaders better understand what is happening throughout every hospital department and manage potential incidents quickly and safely. A professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Mueller was recently named to the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Quality Improvement and Patient Safety’s executive committee, and she is a core faculty member of the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality.

About All Children’s Hospital
All Children’s Hospital, a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine located in St. Petersburg, is the most advanced children’s hospital on Florida’s west coast and a U.S. News & World Report Best Children’s Hospital, ranking in the top 50 in three specialty areas. With over 50 pediatric specialties and 259 beds, All Children’s is dedicated to advancing children’s health through treatment, research, education and advocacy. Programs that include a Clinical and Translational Research Organization, pediatric biorepository, and a new pediatric residency program are driving innovation in personalized pediatric medicine and child health. A network of 11 outpatient care centers in eight counties along with affiliate programs at regional hospitals make All Children’s a leading provider of care for Florida’s children.

About Johns Hopkins Medicine
Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM), headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, is a $7 billion integrated global health enterprise and one of the leading academic health care systems in the United States. JHM unites physicians and scientists of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with the organizations, health professionals and facilities of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System. JHM's vision, “Together, we will deliver the promise of medicine,” is supported by its mission to improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research and clinical care. Diverse and inclusive, JHM educates medical students, scientists, health care professionals and the public; conducts biomedical research; and provides patient-centered medicine to prevent, diagnose and treat human illness. JHM operates six academic and community hospitals, four suburban health care and surgery centers, and more than 39 primary and specialty care outpatients sites under the umbrella of Johns Hopkins Community Physicians. The Johns Hopkins Hospital, opened in 1889, has been ranked number one in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 22 years of the survey’s 25-year history, most recently in 2013. For more information about Johns Hopkins Medicine, its research, education and clinical programs, and for the latest health, science and research news, visit http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org.

Danielle Rotolo, All Children's Hospital, http://www.allkids.org, +1 727-767-2897, [email protected]