The 100,000 lives campaign: saving lives in Wisconsin and the nation.

It is well known that some lifesaving medical interventions remain underused. If such practices were employed whenever they were indicated, many lives could be saved. MetaStar has worked for years with Wisconsin physicians and health care professionals to increase the rates at which some of these interventions are offered. However, making changes 1 person or 1 hospital at a time is slow and fragmented, and patients continue to be harmed despite the best efforts of good, dedicated health professionals. That is why the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and numerous national partners launched the 100,000 Lives Campaign nationwide on December 14, 2004. After a review of the literature, IHI developed a list of 6 hospitalbased interventions that already had been tested and refined, and had been shown to save lives but were variable in their adoption. The goal was for these proven methods to be implemented on a large scale allowing changes to take place much more rapidly and systematically. The campaign began with the seemingly-ambitious goal of enrolling 2000 US hospitals in an 18-month campaign (December 2004-June 2006) to prevent 100,000 unnecessary deaths. Participating hospitals were asked to take the following steps to reduce harm and deaths: • Deploy rapid response teams at the first sign of patient decline. • Deliver reliable, evidence-based care for acute myodcardial infarction (AMI) to prevent deaths from heart attack. • Prevent adverse drug events by implementing medication reconciliation procedures. • Prevent central line infections by implementing a series of interdependent scientifically-grounded steps called the “central line bundle.” • Prevent surgical site infections by reliably delivering the correct perioperative antibiotics. • Prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia by implementing a series of interdependent, scientifically grounded steps including the “ventilator bundle.” When reliably implemented, these 6 interventions are known to reduce mortality. Hospitals enrolling in the campaign were encouraged to work on all 6 of the interventions, but had the choice of implementing 1, a few, or all of them. At the 18-month mark of the campaign, on June 14, 2006, the IHI announced that the original ambitious goals of the campaign not only had been met but had been surpassed. Over 3000 hospitals joined the campaign, representing an estimated 75% of US hospital beds. Using a sophisticated methodology,1 IHI estimated that 122,300 unnecessary deaths were prevented by voluntary, widespread collaboration and commitment by physicians and other health care leaders and staff. If Wisconsin deaths were prevented in the ratio of Wisconsin’s population to the US population, it means that the unnecessary deaths of about 2300 Wisconsinites were prevented. The success of the campaign was due in part to the national infrastructure—organized deliberately like a national political campaign—that was developed to support the campaign, with local field offices, or “nodes,” consisting of over 155 organizations. Seven Wisconsin health care organizations came together to form the Wisconsin node. The node disseminated improvement tools and provided support to health care professionals throughout the state. Node members included MetaStar (which organized the node), the Wisconsin Medical Society, Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin, Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative, Wisconsin Hospital Association, Wisconsin Nurses Association, and Wisconsin Organization of Nurse Executives. During the course of the campaign, the node members provided opportunities for hospitals to connect with one another to share their efforts and successes, and provided guidance for intervention activities. MetaStar provided support for AMI Care, Prevention of Surgical Infections, Prevention of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia, and Prevention of Central The 100,000 Lives Campaign: Saving lives in Wisconsin and the nation