Denmark - Operation life

Citation

(2007), "Denmark - Operation life", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 20 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2007.06220fab.010

Denmark - Operation life

Denmark

Operation life

On 16 April 2007, the Danish Society for Patient Safety launched its national patient safety campaign referred to as Operation Life. The target group of the campaign includes all Danish hospitals, and the goal is to prevent deaths through the implementation of six interventions. Operation Life includes the collaboration partners of TrygFonden and the Danish Society for Patient Safety.

In the United States, the renowned Institute for Healthcare Improvement has successfully completed a national campaign known as ”100 k lives Campaign”, in which more than 3000 participating hospitals, through the implementation of six evidence-based interventions, have saved the lives of 122,300 patients in 18 months. In the UK and Canada, similar campaigns are being instituted based on the same clinical interventions.

Operation Life is inspired by both the British “Safer Patient Initiative” started by Health Foundation and the Canadian “Safer Healthcare Now!” carried out by Canadian Patient Safety Institute, but in particular IHI’s “100,000 Lives Campaign” has been a source of inspiration.

Danish Society for Patient Safety wish to thank and express gratitude to all of these international organizations and campaigns and especially Institute for Healthcare Improvement for generously sharing and making available all their knowledge, experience and campaign material to Operation Life.

Operation Life includes six clinical interventions:

1. 1.

   calling a Rapid Response Team to patients showing evidence of deterioration;

2. 2.

   prevention of adverse drug events by reconciling patient medications at every transition point in care;

3. 3.

   prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia;

4. 4.

   correct treatment of acute myocardial infarction;

5. 5.

   prevention of central line infections; and

6. 6.

   correct treatment of sepsis, blood infections.

The interventions have been studied by an expert panel of Danish physicians and nurses and have been adjusted to comply with Danish guidelines and standards.

The goal of Operation Life is to:

• •

  prevent 3,000 deaths;

• •

  make sure that all regions are represented in the campaign from the start; and

• •

  make sure that 75 per cent of the patients in somatic hospitals are covered by the campaign (once the campaign is closed).

The campaign is open to the regions/hospitals that wish to join, and registration can be made any time. There are no restrictions as to the type and number of interventions the regions/hospitals may choose to implement.

Campaign results must be measured in terms of number of prevented deaths and using an obligatory indicator for each intervention package. The goal of the campaign is to prevent deaths and this should be evidenced by monitoring the development (decline) in the national mortality rates at Danish hospitals in absolute figures. Mortality rates must be collected on a national and regional level. The campaign also includes the measurement of a Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratio (HSMR) on a national and regional level.

A steering committee has been appointed for Operation Life involving representatives from: Each of the five regions, Danish Regions, the Danish Medical Association, The Danish Nurses Organization, The Danish Rheumatism Association, TrygFonden, The National Board of Health and the Danish Society for Patient Safety.

Support is provided to the participants during the implementation phase, for instance in the form of ”kick-off packages” (clinical guidelines, etc) for each intervention, data collection and outcome follow-up, establishment of network and activities for sharing experience. Also a training programme using the “breakthrough method” is provided as support for implementation and quality improvement. The participating hospitals may appoint a number of teams consisting of 3-4 persons who are to undertake implementation at their own hospital, as well as training in the “breakthrough method” in a number of “workshops”. Instructor training in the Breakthrough method is also provided.

For further information: www.operationlife.dk/English.aspx