Air Force unit wins 2006 DOD Patient Safety Award

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Kimberly Spencer
  • 59th Medical Wing Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNEWS) --  The 59th Medical Wing staff was recognized as a Department of Defense Patient Safety Award winner for their use of new technology and innovation for patient care and safety tracking in an emergency department setting Jan. 30.

The award was presented to Brig. Gen. (Dr.) David G. Young III, the 59th MDW commander, in a ceremony held during the annual TRICARE conference in Washington, D.C.

The annual DOD award is designed to reward successful patient and safety efforts, particularly in the development of a culture of safety. The 59th MDW won for their state-of-the-art patient tracking system, known as EM3.

With EM3, each nurse, physician and technician spend more time at the bedside as the computer does much of the leg work once required by humans

"The EM3 program meets multiple patient safety goals providing quick visibility when labs come back (while listing) doctor contact information, patient triage categories, patient waiting times and more," said Col. (Dr.) Michaela Shafer, the 959th Surgical Operations Squadron commander. "It's already resulted in a patient waiting time reduction of approximately 25 percent in our ER."

Key contributors to the program's design were emergency medicine staff physician Maj. (Dr.) Allen Holder and software engineer Ed Hander.

EM3 got its name as the third program used for patient tracking in Wilford Hall Medical Center when the previous tracking system went down and was declared unrepairable. The staff looked for a replacement program; but, at a cost of $450,000, funds were not available. Major Holder understood what the program needed to do, and Mr. Hander understood how to make it happen. Together they developed EM3 at a cost of only $50,000.

"The program has shown a significant improvement in overall patient care quality and safety," said Cynthia Lightner, the 59th MDW patient safety program manager. "It is evident that, despite the many competing priorities of a complex and large system like Wilford Hall, a patient safety culture transformation is occurring due to leadership's involvement and the front line members' committed engagement in patient safety practices."

"EM3 is a phenomenal program designed by emergency physicians for emergency physicians, facilitated by systems professionals, which helps us manage all aspects of emergency department patient throughput -- registration, triage, evaluation, treatment, disposition and follow-up," General Young said. "I am proud of our team for creating this benchmark process and I was honored to have accepted the award on their behalf."

The system works so well officials are looking at using EM3 worldwide.

"Doctors from other military treatment facilities have been trained on the system at Wilford Hall and are very interested in using it at their MTFs," Mr. Hander said.

Comment on this story (comments may be published on Air Force Link)

Click here to view the comments/letters page