Memphis, Tenn., Jan. 2, 2003 - Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis’ 38-bed general intensive care unit has begun using an open intensive care unit physician staffing model to enhance its patient safety efforts.

On weekdays, nights, weekends and holidays, physician specialists will make rounds with nurses, respiratory therapists and other members of the health care team as well as assume responsibility for resuscitation efforts. These doctors will be in the intensive care units from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. and available to respond to patient needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Because Baptist will use an open model, any physician with privileges at Baptist can admit patients to the unit and check on them at any time.

“We will be available to assist other physicians with changes in patient status,” said Dr. Michael Wilons, a member of the intensivist team. “In addition, we will be able to provide real- time, on-site response to patient care needs as they arise, taking this hospital to a higher level of patient safety.”

The Leapfrog Group, an employer and health care consortium formed to encourage higher quality care in hospitals, has selected the intensivist model as one of three Initial Safety Standards, which are key measures by which the group rates hospitals. Locally, the Memphis Business Group on Health also supports intensivist models. Hospitals that use an intensivist model tend to get higher scores from the Leapfrog Group than those that do not, mainly because studies show hospital ICUs with intensivists have increased survival rates.

“Aside from meeting one of the Leapfrog Group’s Initial Safety Standards, using the intensivist model has several other advantages for our patients,” said Stuart Mitchell, CEO and administrator of Baptist Memphis. “This model will enhance quality and patient safety and decrease length of stay, which will lead to decreased emergency department overcrowding.”

Adopting this model is one more way Baptist Memphis is helping enhance patient safety. Since 2000, Baptist has measured itself against other hospitals across the nation and implemented best practices in all its hospitals In April 2000, Baptist Memorial Health Care established a patient safety and quality council comprising representatives from multiple health care disciplines. Council members research best practices, regulatory standards and evidence-based practices; select the most effective; then implement these in the Baptist Memorial Health Care system, creating standardized policies, procedures and practices for Baptist’s hospitals. Some of Baptist’s biggest patient safety initiatives to date include its medication use safety program and emergency and bioterrorism preparedness plan.

Baptist Memphis is a 736-bed hospital that is the flagship of the Baptist Memorial Health Care system. It serves as a major referral center for patients from across the Mid-South, and offers many diagnostic, surgical and rehabilitation services. The hospital has added hundreds of beds in the past few years with the opening of a patient tower and the Baptist Heart Institute. For three consecutive years, U.S. News & World Report named Baptist Memphis one of the top 50 hospitals in the country for orthopedics, and for the seventh year in a row, area consumers chose Baptist Memphis as their most preferred hospital for overall health care services in a National Research Corp. poll.

For more information, call 226-5000 or visit www.baptistonline.org.

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