Pressure Ulcer Prevention @ BJC Healthcare

This project launched as a part of a five-year initiative to reduce preventable harm to patients or “Never Events,” in accordance with a 2008 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid statement. Hospitals and providers would no longer be reimbursed for costs incurred due to these "Never Events," so an aggressive goal was set and teams of experts were formed to devise a strategy and launch improvement projects. 

For pressure ulcers, significant improvements were made from 2008 to 2013. Our projects specifically accounted for a 30% decrease across 10 adult hospitals. Three of our pilot units, selected for their high prevalence of pressure ulcers, saw a 58% decrease due to our Lean implementation of evidence-based practices. 

Ultimately, these decreases improved patient safety for thousands of encounters and improved nursing engagement in process improvement efforts. Our team also received an award from the American Society for Quality as a 2012 finalist in their International Team Excellence Award competition.

My role on the team was project manager. As the number of projects grew, this role quickly transitioned to program manager. I was in charge of planning, implementing and monitoring multiple projects and managing project teams of nurses, analysts and process improvement professionals. I also gained experience reporting progress to executive leadership and setting the strategic roadmap based on reported metrics and feedback.