PALO ALTO, Calif-- The Child Health Corporation of America (CHCA) has honored Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford with its 2007 RACE for Results award. The award annually recognizes outstanding performance improvement achievements at children's hospitals across the U.S.
 
Packard Children’s earned the RACE for Results distinction for its success in implementing Rapid Response Teams. The teams consist of physicians, nurses and respiratory therapists, all working 24x7 to proactively evaluate subtle signs or symptoms in unstable patients and determine if immediate medical intervention is needed. This quick response to a patient’s changing condition has led to an 80% decrease in cardiorespiratory arrests outside of the ICU setting, and a 17% decrease in mortality across the entire hospital. 
 
“Our Rapid Response Teams are saving lives,” said Susan Flanagan, RN, Chief Operating Officer. Added Paul Sharek, MD, MPH, Chief Clinical Patient Safety Officer, “Each member of our Rapid Response Teams proudly shares in this award. Their work is a wonderful reflection of the world-class culture of safety we have created at Packard Children’s.”
 
Rapid Response Teams are endorsed by the National Quality Forum and Institute for Healthcare Improvement as an effective means to reducing harm from a patient’s changing condition.  This is one way that hospitals can meet nationally endorsed patient safety standards identified by the Joint Commission, the nation’s predominant hospital accrediting body, and the Leapfrog Group, a prominent employer-based health purchasing consortium.
 
“This initiative will certainly benefit the pediatric medical community as children’s hospitals find new and effective ways to improve patient outcomes,” said Terri Simmonds, 2007 RACE for Results Judge and Institute for Healthcare Improvement Faculty and Director. Other leading children’s hospitals deploying Rapid Response Teams include Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.
 
Packard Children’s was selected for the prestigious RACE for Results award by a panel of independent national performance improvement experts.  The hospital also won the 2005 award for decreasing harm caused by medication errors.  As a result of this effort, the adverse drug event (ADE) rate at Packard Children’s decreased by 70 percent over 24 months. 
 
About Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
Ranked as one of the best pediatric hospitals in the nation by U.S.News & World Report and Child magazine, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford is a 264-bed hospital devoted to the care of children and expectant mothers. Providing pediatric and obstetric medical and surgical services and associated with the Stanford University School of Medicine, Packard Children's offers patients locally, regionally and nationally the full range of health care programs and services — from preventive and routine care to the diagnosis and treatment of serious illness and injury. For more information, visit www.lpch.org.
 
About Child Health Corporation of America
CHCA is dedicated to improving the performance of children’s hospitals, networking 42 of North America’s leading pediatric organizations, connecting 20,000 pediatric specialists and linking almost 100,000 children’s hospital employees to a range of programs and services. Learn more at www.chca.com.