NAMES IN THE NEWS
North American Partners in Anesthesia Receives 2022 Eisenberg Award
JANUARY 2023
North American Partners in Anesthesia (NAPA) won the 2022 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award in the category of National Level Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality, according to a release. The Joint Commission and National Quality Forum (NQF) announced the recipients of the awards that recognize major achievements by individuals and organizations to improve patient safety and healthcare quality on January 24.
NAPA received the award for its Anesthesia Risk Alerts Program, which was implemented across 500 hospitals and ASCs in March 2019. The program employed specific mitigation strategies targeting five high-risk clinical scenarios: known or suspected difficult airway, a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 45, pulmonary hypertension, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) status 4 or 5, and operating room (OR) fire risk, according to the release. Each patient is assessed by the anesthesia clinician, and if a risk is identified, the specific mitigation strategy for that scenario is advised to prevent harm. After implementation of the program, which reached greater than 95 percent compliance, the incidence rate of relevant critical adverse events for patients with a BMI greater than or equal to 45 and under general anesthesia decreased significantly.
Other winners were
- Jason S. Adelman, MD, chief patient safety officer and associate chief quality officer; executive director, Center for Patient Safety Research; director, Patient Safety Research Fellowship, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian; associate professor of medicine (in biomedical informatics) and vice chair for quality and patient safety, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in the category of Individual Achievement; and
- Parkland Health in the category of Local Level Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality.
“Congratulations to Dr. Jason S. Adelman, North American Partners in Anesthesia, and Parkland Health for their incredible achievements worthy of the 2022 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards,” said David W. Baker, MD, executive vice president of the Division of Healthcare Quality Evaluation at The Joint Commission, in the release. “A better healthcare experience for all is possible. The work highlighted by this year’s awards serves as examples of excellence for healthcare organizations to emulate as they move toward providing safer, higher quality care.”
The awardees will be recognized during a special John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety & Quality Awards Luncheon sponsored by Elevance Health at NQF23, NQF’s annual conference, February 20-22, 2023, in Washington, DC. The achievements of each awardee will also be featured in a special issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety later this year, according to the release.
Launched in 2002, the awards honor the late John M. Eisenberg, MD, former administrator of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. An impassioned advocate for healthcare quality improvement, Eisenberg was a founding member of NQF’s board of directors.