AHRQ gives Johns Hopkins $4 million to improve surgical outcomes
Project will help more than 750 hospitals implement enhanced recovery after surgery protocols.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has awarded the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality a nearly $4 million contract, in collaboration with the American College of Surgeons, to improve surgical outcomes and experiences for patients nationwide. The award comes with the possibility of increasing to $12 million over three years, for a total of about $16 million, Johns Hopkins said in a statement.
The project is both funded and overseen by AHRQ, and will help more than 750 hospitals implement enhanced recovery after surgery protocols. The ERAS protocols are known to reduce complications, shorten stays and enhance the patient experience.
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ERAS measures influence a patient's entire care experience starting with the decision to perform surgery through and after discharge. They include patient and family engagement, avoiding prolonged fasting periods, prescribing and using opioids sparingly, and incorporating multiple methods to control pain, and involving close teamwork among surgeons, anesthesia providers and nurses, Johns Hopkins said.
The protocols have been around for years, but Johns Hopkins took a unique approach to implementing them in 2013 when School of Medicine adjunct associate professor Elizabeth Wick combined ERAS with AHRQ's Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program. CUSP is a five-step "culture change intervention" that enlists healthcare staff members to help prevent harm.
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"Through the combination of both initiatives, hospital length of stay for patients having colorectal surgery was reduced by about 1.5 days, costs have dropped by $1,500 and patient complications have gone down, including a 50 percent decrease in surgical-site infections," Johns Hopkins said.
The new joint project, called the AHRQ Safety Program for Enhanced Recovery After Surgery, will initially focus its efforts on abdominal operations in colorectal surgery and will later expand into other surgical realms, including bariatric, emergency general surgery and other areas.
Twitter: @BethJSanborn
