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Patient Safety Improvement Corps Honored at DCHA Awards Ceremony
Delmarva Foundation Medical Director Recognized for Team Leadership

Easton, MD, November 28, 2005 - Delmarva Foundation, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for the District of Columbia, was part of the award-winning team honored with the District of Columbia Hospital Association’s (DCHA) Annual Safety Award. The award, given by DCHA to honor significant contributions in patient safety, was presented to the District of Columbia’s Patient Safety Improvement Corps (PSIC) for its efforts to identify and develop interventions to make District hospitals safer for all patients. The award was presented to the PSIC team at DCHA’s Annual Awards Ceremony, held recently at the Washington Hilton.

The PSIC team was selected for its assessment of the culture of safety at Greater Southeast Community Hospital and National Rehabilitation Hospital. The team aimed to develop a meaningful intervention for a common safety concern—falls prevention. The work, which focused on two similar units in each facility, involved the administration of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. The results of the assessment revealed similarities between the facilities in perceived areas of strength and areas for improvement in the patient safety culture. The similar findings raised the question as to whether the results represent a proxy for the culture of safety in all District hospitals.

The PSIC team members honored for their efforts are W. Eugene Egerton, MD, Medical Director of Delmarva Foundation of the District of Columbia; Sharon Williams Lewis, RN, Acting Program Manager, Health Regulation Administration, DC Department of Health; Paul Rao, PhD, Vice President of Clinical Services, Quality Improvement, and Corporate Compliance at National Rehabilitation Hospital; and Vickie Sears, RN, formerly Director of Medical Staff Services at Greater Southeast Community Hospital.

“Being part of this award-winning team is an honor and the team is especially thrilled to receive this recognition from an organization as esteemed as the DC Hospital Association,” said Dr. Egerton. “I feel privileged for the opportunity to lead such an accomplished team whose hard work and dedication will help us find new ways to make the hospital environment safer for all patients.”

Sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Center for Patient Safety and AHRQ, the PSIC program aims to develop teams in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to enhance the culture of patient safety. PSIC teams conduct patient safety investigations, developing and implementing sustainable system changes based on their findings. The teams foster an environment of blame-free reporting of medical errors and near-misses, and become focal points for furthering patient safety-related activities within their respective states. All PSIC teams include QIO or state healthcare leadership and hospital partners.

For more information, please visit www.delmarvafoundation.org.

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About Delmarva Foundation
Delmarva Foundation is a national, not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving healthcare quality in over 20 states. Since 1973, Delmarva has assisted in improving care in hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, medical practices and health plans. Delmarva performs quality improvement, quality assurance, utilization review, external quality review and Program Safeguard activities. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Easton, Maryland with other offices in Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, DC; Columbia, South Carolina; Tampa, Florida; and Tallahassee, Florida. For more information, please visit Delmarva Foundation on the web at www.delmarvafoundation.org.