Multidisciplinary rounds (MDR): an implementation system for sustained improvement in the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines program.

INTRODUCTION: Hospitals throughout the United States face the challenge of developing implementation systems able to sustain improved clinical care over years. The American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines (GWTGs) program helps hospitals address this challenge with a comprehensive approach to quality improvement for patients with CAD, heart failure and stroke. The Department of Medicine at Berkshire Medical Center, a 300-bed community teaching hospital, developed a clinical care improvement implementation system called multidisciplinary rounds (MDR). We report our performance in GWTGs using MDR. METHODS: MDR is a patient-focused communication system integrating care delivered by multiple providers using concurrent feedback, redundancy, and rapid cycle improvement. Providers from multiple disciplines meet for 1 hour 3 times per week to coordinate care and assure adherence to evidence-based guidelines for all non-ICU medical patients. Following brief focused presentations, participants view our electronic medical record (EMR) projected on screens, which includes orders, diagnoses, laboratory, medications, cardiology reports, consultations, nursing documentation, smoking and immunization status, and other information. The leaders emphasize the importance of evidence-based order sets in our computerized provider order entry system (CPOE), checklists, and tools. Specific suggestions for interventions and documentation based upon AHA/ACC guidelines are provided. RESULTS: MDR has rapidly improved adherence to evidence-based measures in all GWTGs programs. In addition, MDR has been associated with sustained improvement in all modules. Berkshire Medical Center has received more performance achievement awards than any other hospital in the United States. These awards include 6 consecutive awards in GWTGs CAD, 3 in stroke, and 2 in heart failure. Cardiovascular process improvements have been associated with a reduction in inpatient AMI mortality from 8.75% to 5.20% (with an expected severity-adjusted mortality of 10.18%). Berkshire Medical Center provides about 80% of the acute care in Berkshire County and thus influences the outcomes of a large proportion of our community's patients. Between 1999 and 2004, Berkshire County had a 26.3% decrease in major CVD deaths compared with a Massachusetts decrease of 17.3% and a US decrease of 17.8%. We have seen a 44.4% decrease in AMI mortality, a 34.5% decrease in stroke mortality, and a 33.9% decrease in heart failure mortality. We have assisted multiple organizations in implementing GWTG and MDR. CONCLUSIONS: MDR at Berkshire Medical Center is a clinical quality-improvement implementation system that has driven sustained high-level performance in the American Heart Association's GWTGs. MDR has changed our culture, improved coordination of care, been flexible, and facilitated rapid and sustained process improvement. Improvement in evidence-based cardiovascular processes for CAD, stroke and heart failure have been associated with improved in hospital AMI mortality and decreased overall community cardiovascular, AMI, stroke and heart failure mortality. MDR can be used by multiple organizations to drive care improvement.

Hospitalized HIV-infected patients in the HAART era: a view from the inner city.

To evaluate hospitalizations of HIV-infected patients in the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era, we analyzed 2736 admissions of 1562 HIV-infected patients to Cook County Hospital from September 20, 1999 to July 10, 2002. Patients were predominantly African American (81%), male (72%), and active substance abusers (74%). Only 48% of patients with a prior HIV diagnosis were taking HAART and 37% of them had a viral load less than 1000 copies per milliliter. Patients on protease inhibitor (PI)-sparing regimens more frequently achieved a viral load less than 1000 copies per milliliter than those on a PI-containing regimens (41% vs. 34% p = 0.036). For patients with CD4 cell counts less than 200 cells per milliliter, those not taking HAART were more likely African American (83% vs. 76%, p < 0.031), homeless (13% vs. 5%, p < 0.001), active substance abusers (79% vs. 65%, p < 0.001), female (28% vs. 22%, p = 0.001), new to the hospital system (19% vs. 6%, p < 0.001), or not recently seen in the outpatient clinic (42% vs. 17%, p < 0.001). In our population, active substance abuse was prevalent and only a minority of patients was taking HAART. Women were receiving HAART less often, independent of race and substance abuse. Aggressive programs are needed in high-risk populations to address substance abuse issues and to improve patient use of HAART.