Children's SPS Initiative

Children’s of Alabama continues to integrate its existing patient safety initiatives to match the national goals of the Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS) Collaborative.

A key component of the SPS process is the development and use of evidence-based process “bundles” (similar to a checklist) to standardize and improve care. Over the past several months Children’s Quality Improvement Committee (QIC) has approved bundles for eight of the Hospital Acquired Conditions. Training videos are being developed for each as the organization continues its “Quest For Zero.” Children’s is actively sharing and receiving feedback from the collaborative group and the QIC is actively reviewing options to provide ongoing updates to the Board and employees about Children’s results.

This “Quest” is to work with the 70-plus other SPS hospitals to focus attention, expertise and effort toward the goal of eliminating medical harm to our patients – until we can guarantee zero harm to our patients our work continues. There are thirteen areas of emphasis. These nine Hospital Acquired Conditions (HACs; see sidebar), along with decreasing readmissions, are the nationwide focal point for this initiative.

The Hospital Acquired Conditions, not including readmissions are:

1. Catheter associated urinary tract infections. (CAUTI)
2. Surgical site infections (SSI)
3. Central line associated blood stream infections (CLABSI)
4. Ventilator associated events (VAE)
5. Venous thromboembolism (VTE)
6. Pressure injuries
7. Adverse drug events (ADE)
8. Serious safety events (SSE)
9. Falls
10. Sepsis and Septic Shock
11. Clostridium difficile prevention (C Diff)
12. Readmissions
13. Nephrotoxic Injury Negated by Just-in-time Action (NINJA)

These conditions or areas of potential error or harm were chosen by the SPS Collaborative in coordination with patient safety goals set by the several entities including the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.