(801) 442-2000
36 S. State Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84111Map

Intermountain Healthcare

Intermountain - Quality & Clinical Excellence
Clinical Best Practices

Improving Patient Outcomes with Delivery Care Protocols

OVERVIEW
Clinical integration at Intermountain Healthcare has resulted in dynamic Clinical Programs for select areas of medicine. Electronic protocols and a centralized patient database help organize care delivery protocols, providing physicians with full electronic clinical decision support and improving patient outcomes in these areas:
    • Cardiovascular
    • Oncology
    • Women & Newborns
    • Intensive Medicine
    • Primary Care
    • Pediatric Specialties
    • Patient Safety Initiative
CLINICAL PROGRAMS
  • Cardiovascular. Heart patients at Intermountain's hospitals experienced the lowest mortality rates for cardiac surgery in Utah (2002-2003, APRDRG severity adjusted), as well as very fast emergency response times and other indicators of excellence. In addition to saving lives, these achievements have reduced heart damage and lowered hospital readmissions.
  • Oncology. Intermountain is a leader in cancer clinical trials in Utah, providing patients with leading-edge modes of treatment. Patients benefit from a multidisciplinary approach to care, in which teams comprised of medical, radiation, and surgical oncologists; radiologists; pathologists; plastic surgeons; nurses; and other clinical experts meet weekly to discuss treatment options.
  • Women & Newborns. Premature births and elective inductions prior to 39 weeks of gestation are being significantly reduced, resulting in improved outcomes for mothers and newborns. Specifically, the percentage of elective inductions performed at less than 39 weeks of gestation fell from nearly 30% in 1999 to less than 5% in 2004. Also, perinatal care managers help expectant mothers who are experiencing problems with their pregnancies.
  • Intensive Medicine. Intermountain is working to tightly manage blood sugar levels in critically ill patients. Recent studies show that careful glucose control in intensive care settings lowers mortality.
  • Primary Care. Intermountain is improving routine physician care provided to patients in a number of ways:
    • Diabetes and asthma patients benefit from care managers who act as "health care coaches," supporting the work of primary care physicians and helping patients comply with physician treatment plans.
    • Intermountain is piloting several mental health programs which integrate primary care physicians and mental/behavioral health professionals. These programs address the mental health components of physical illnesses.
    • Primary Care
  • Pediatric Specialties. Intermountain developed and implemented specific bronchiolitis care guidelines at major facilities, resulting in faster recoveries and shorter hospital stays for children with this lung condition. Also, new guidelines for treating fever in infants, developed at Primary Children's Medical Center, are now being implemented at other Intermountain hospitals.
PATIENT SAFETY – A STRATEGIC GOAL
Patient Safety Initiative. Intermountain physicians helped influence the national Institute of Medicine report – To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System – that has made patient safety a national priority. Intermountain's Board of Trustees has established patient safety goals in several areas, in continuing efforts to provide for ever better patient outcomes. Some of these include:
  • Surgical infection prevention. By giving surgical patients antibiotics at the optimal time before surgery, surgical infection rates have been significantly reduced, improving still further Intermountain's already very low rates.
  • Adverse drug events. ADEs are incidents in which patients react badly to certain drugs. Intermountain tracks such incidents closely and has developed guidelines to minimize their occurrence. Currently, Intermountain is focusing on heparin and coumadin medications because they are nationally identified as the most problem-prone drugs routinely used in hospitals.

Logo Intermountain Healthcare Home

© 2007 Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, Utah. All Rights Reserved.