Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

16 QUALITY IMPROVEMENT & MEASUREMENT 1 system leans into SimWars to improve patient care By Mariah Taylor A urora-based Children's Hospital Colorado is using SimWars, the national simulation competition for emergency medicine residents, to train and inspire staff — resulting in better patient care and staff morale, as well as a substantial donation. Whitney Smith, RN, simulation program manager at Children's, first discovered SimWars in 2017 at a conference and realized her system could take the SimWars concept to the next level. "Many know that simulation is a valuable tool that directly impacts patient outcomes — it translates directly to the clinical level — but how can we ensure that, on an organizational level, our executives and team members, especially those at smaller centers within Children's, understand the benefits of simulation," Ms. Smith told Becker's. e system's first SimWars took place in 2019 and featured themes, costumes, prizes and more. It started as a way to build teamwork and give the team a chance to relax as they learned. "We are now using it to increase program recognition and the reputation of our program and hospital," Ms. Smith said. At first, only critical care teams from pediatric intensive care, cardiac intensive care, emergency department, pediatric emergency department and the flight team participated in the SimWars. is year, the PICU and two neonatal intensive care units from the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora and Colorado Springs campuses also joined the event. Attendance has grown from 75 people to more than 250. e teams complete more than 3,000 simulation sessions each year. Not only are clinicians better prepared to treat patients, but SimWars acts as a PR event for the system. Last year, the event helped Children's obtain a $550,000 donation. Ms. Smith said the critical part of SimWars' success is having a team involved in simulations and a steering committee that plans the event and pushes creative boundaries to make the event the place to be. SimWars was first created and modeled by Haru Okuda, MD. n Pennsylvania hospital opens opioid-free surgery program By Mariah Taylor P ittsburgh-based UPMC Shadyside Hospital launched an opioid-free pathway for patients undergoing surgery or treatment who want alternative options for pain management, CBS News reported July 22. The program allows patients to pick routes for managing surgical and post-op pain, including regional anesthesia, nerve blocks, non-opioid IV medications, aromatherapy, hypnosis and biomedical devices. The program launched in May and has already enrolled 39 patients. Patients wear special bracelets and charts have stickers to ensure staff understand the pain management plan. Patients can opt out at any time, but most who enroll have either family members with an opioid addiction or have had an addiction themselves. "We had been seeing a lot of patients coming into the hospital for surgery asking specifically not to use opioids for their pain management," Shiv Goel, MD, chief of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine at UPMC Shadyside, told CBS. "And so far, there was never any defined pathway that existed that would ensure that a patient who's making such a request gets that option and that request is honored. For the first time, this gives the power to the patients to choose the type of pain medications they want to take for managing their pain." This is the first program of its kind in the area and possibly the nation, according to the report. n Penn Medicine hospital lowers CLABSI rate to zero: Study By Paige Twenter P enn Medicine's flagship hospital noted zero central line-associated bloodstream infections in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, according to a study published Aug. 1 in Critical Care Nurse. In fiscal year 2018, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania began caring for a new population of patients with pulmonary artery catheters. Compared with fiscal year 2017, the number of catheter days increased from 1,544 to 2,688, and the CLABSI rate jumped from 0.65 to 1.86. The Philadelphia-based hospital adopted "standard, evidence-based CLABSI bundles," the study said, but infection rates barely budged. In fiscal year 2019, a nurse-led initiative introduced central catheter rounds three times a week — and zero CLABSIs occurred. The rounds focused on "critically assessing all central catheter dressings; determining the necessity of each patient's central catheter; and educating patients on the importance of keeping their central catheter dressings clean, dry and intact," according to the study. With the bundles and central catheter rounds, the hospital's CLABSI rate dropped from 1.86 to 0.0 between July 2019 and June 2022. The absence of CLABSIs continued throughout fiscal year 2023. The two infection prevention practices have become the standard of care throughout the hospital, according to a news release from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. n

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