Peter Pronovost has been elected to the Institute of Medicine. Bravo! This is so well deserved. Here's a summary of his work from Newswise.
A professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine and surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Peter J. Pronovost directs the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at Hopkins and is senior vice president for patient safety and quality for Johns Hopkins Medicine, where he has transformed the way hospitals around the world think about bloodstream infections.
Peter Pronovost has brought a scientifically rigorous yet common-sense approach to eliminating medical errors and unnecessary harm, shaping the national conversation about patient safety in the process. His biggest success so far: the much-heralded, cockpit-style, five-step checklist for doctors and nurses designed to prevent central-line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs). The simple checklist, coupled with a program that promotes a culture of safety, has transformed the way hospitals think about bloodstream infections, which kill more than 30,000 patients a year and sicken many thousands more. Thanks to Pronovost, these infections are no longer seen as a cost of doing business. They are preventable.
Pronovost and his team have dramatically reduced ICU bloodstream infections throughout the state of Michigan and exported that success to hospitals across the nation and the world. His program is now in place in 47 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and in many countries throughout the world. As he spreads the message that CLABSIs can be virtually eliminated, he is also using these strategies to prevent other harm, such as surgical-site infections and pneumonias contracted through the use of ventilators.
In 2008, Pronovost was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, or “genius grant,” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for exhibiting exceptional creativity and showing the promise to make important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment. That same year, he was also named one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People.”
He is the author of the book, “Safe Patients, Smart Hospitals: How One Doctor's Checklist Can Help Us Change Health Care from the Inside Out,” published in 2010. He is also author of more than 200 research articles.
Pronovost and his team have dramatically reduced ICU bloodstream infections throughout the state of Michigan and exported that success to hospitals across the nation and the world. His program is now in place in 47 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and in many countries throughout the world. As he spreads the message that CLABSIs can be virtually eliminated, he is also using these strategies to prevent other harm, such as surgical-site infections and pneumonias contracted through the use of ventilators.
In 2008, Pronovost was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, or “genius grant,” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for exhibiting exceptional creativity and showing the promise to make important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment. That same year, he was also named one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People.”
He is the author of the book, “Safe Patients, Smart Hospitals: How One Doctor's Checklist Can Help Us Change Health Care from the Inside Out,” published in 2010. He is also author of more than 200 research articles.
Congratulations to Dr. Pronovost, who has persevered against severe headwinds to be a pioneer in this field. Not only that, he has legitimized patient safety as a priority issue in the view of physicians today. Glad the IOM has recognized that.
ReplyDeletenonlocal MD