Leading culture change through CUSP
The SMMC team: (l-r) Lori Swope, Leslie Smith, Laura Badjalimbe, Stacy Steiner, and Wendi Davies.Recognizing communication as a global unit system failure led to a culture shift in the Shawnee Mission Medical Center (SMMC) ICU and resulted in 600 days (and counting) without a central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI). SMMC is a 508-bed facility in Shawnee Mission that admitted 20,520 patients in 2011.
According to SMMC Infection Prevention and Control Manager Lori Swope, RN, BSN, MHA, CIC, the team applied the principles of the national patient safety program, Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) to discover system failures, opportunities for improvement, and implement actions to prevent harm. The team implemented the effort in May, 2011, celebrated when they surpassed the 500-day mark in August of 2012, and participated in a facility-wide celebration on Dec. 10, just one day after they hit the 600-day mark.
Hutchinson team pilots pulmonary improvement program
When Jennifer Rodgers, APRN, describes the Community Pulmonary Program developed and implemented by the Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System, she uses ownership language of the effort. It's "our journey", "we thought", "we needed", and "our efforts." There is no lapse in describing the five-year progress as anything but a full-out team effort.