Patient safety initiative: Positive identification and enhanced clinical documentation at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

Patient safety is the responsibility of every care provider. Patients benefit most when information exchange between caregivers is efficient, relevant, and considers both the medical and human needs of the patient and their family. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine published its landmark report To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health Care System. The report indicated that 98,000 Americans die each year from preventable deaths, of which 7,000 deaths are attributable to medication errors. In 2000, Leap Frog (a consortium of more than 100 Fortune 500 companies and other large public health care purchasers) reported that over 1 million serious medication errors occur annually in U.S. hospitals. Leap Frog also identified three initiatives they believe would enhance patient safety: computerized physician order entry (CPOE); evidence-based hospital referral; and intensive care unit staffing by physicians trained in critical care medicine. This grant will enable the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) to augment the CPOE standard by implementing a Knowledge Based Charting (KBC) system. KBC is a clinical documentation system that utilizes evidence-based clinical practice guidelines as a focus for complete, integrated clinical documentation. The purpose of this project is to successfully install and use KBC in the care of all its patients. Successful implementation will include the development of wireless mobile computing devices for clinical documentation and hand-held devices for positive patient identification, medication administration, and vital sign capture. This grant supports staff training, the acquisition of equipment and software, and consulting services. RWJUH has already invested more than $14 million in its CPOE.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $5,000,000.00

Awarded on: 10/21/2005

Time frame: 11/1/2005 - 10/31/2010

Grant Number: 52252