麻豆果冻传媒

South African Nurses to Visit Lucile Packard Children鈥檚 Hospital as Part of a Quality Improvement Project to Reduce ICU Infections

Visit is part of an ongoing Children鈥檚 HeartLink-sponsored partnership between the two hospitals.

For Release: July 21, 2010

PALO ALTO, Calif.听鈥 On July 26, 2010, three nurses from the Red Cross War Memorial Children鈥檚 Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, will arrive at Lucile Packard Children鈥檚 Hospital Stanford University to train, exchange and observe medical and clinical practices and to kick off a joint quality improvement project. The quality improvement project, which will continue over the coming months, will investigate strategies for听reducing catheter-associated bloodstream infections in Intensive Care Units听(ICUs).

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The visit and quality improvement project evolves out of an ongoing 鈥渢winning鈥 partnership, called Best Outcomes through Nursing Children with Excellence (BOuNCE), between Red Cross War Memorial Children鈥檚 Hospital and Lucile Packard. Children鈥檚 HeartLink has sponsored and facilitated the partnership since 2006.听The objectives for BOuNCE are to foster the professional development of the critical care nurses at both hospitals, to develop formalized strategies for nurse retention and to mutually improve clinical practices and patient care.听

The Red Cross pediatric ICU nurses, Susan Carolus and Bernadette Jennifer Francis, and infection control specialist, Charmain Joy Rinquist, will work with Lucile Packard nurses, Joanne Fioravanti, Eileen Garrison, Michele Santilhano, Tracy Pablo, Kathleen Carney, Ellie Taft, Sarah Ferrari, Heather Freeman and Sandy Staveski. Currently, Ferrari, Garrison and Staveski are in the process of redesigning how certain policies are developed and implemented at Lucile Packard. The new policy process utilizes mindmapping techniques, is more nurse-friendly and should have positive effects on standardizing nursing practice.

This project is based on a design originally developed by Red Cross nurses and is an example of how the exchange of ideas, knowledge and people between two partnering institutions directly benefits both partners. 鈥淭he BOuNCE project is a unique program for Children鈥檚 HeartLink. We are thrilled to be sponsoring such a beneficial exchange of knowledge and expertise between two great hospitals,鈥 said Elizabeth Perlich Sweeney, President of Children's HeartLink. 鈥淭hrough this cross-cultural collaboration we鈥檝e seen both hospitals improve their ability to provide world-class pediatric cardiac care.鈥 Staveski, along with Minette Coetzee, Associate Professor of Child Nurse Practice Development at Red Cross War Memorial, and Andreas Tsakistos, International Programs Coordinator at Children鈥檚 HeartLink, will be presenting the BOuNCE project at the National Association of Children鈥檚 Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI) Annual Leadership Conference, which takes place October 17-20, 2010, in Minneapolis.

Authors

Robert Dicks
(650) 497-8364
rdicks@stanfordchildrens.org

About Children鈥檚 HeartLink

Founded in 1969, Children鈥檚 HeartLink is a medical non-governmental organization working in partnership with health care centers in underserved regions of the world to promote sustainable cardiac care for children with congenital or acquired heart disease. Children鈥檚 HeartLink partners with health care providers in medically underserved areas, empowering local hospitals to care for children in their region with consistent, quality and sustainable pediatric cardiac services.

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About 麻豆果冻传媒 Children's Health

麻豆果冻传媒 Children鈥檚 Health, with听Lucile Packard Children鈥檚 Hospital Stanford听at its center, is the Bay Area鈥檚 largest health care system exclusively dedicated to children and expectant mothers. Our network of care includes more than 65听locations听across Northern California and more than 85 locations in the U.S. Western region.听Along with Stanford Health Care and the Stanford School of Medicine, we are part of听, an ecosystem harnessing the potential of biomedicine through collaborative research, education, and clinical care to improve health outcomes around the world. We are a nonprofit organization committed to supporting the community through meaningful outreach programs and services and providing necessary medical care to families, regardless of their ability to pay. Discover more at听stanfordchildrens.org.