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Media Contact: Michael Schwartzberg, Media Relations Manager Greater Baltimore Medical Center Is First Community Hospital in Maryland To Join National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Leading Surgical Hospital Collecting Data To Improve Patient Outcomes BALTIMORE, Md. – May 17, 2006 – Greater Baltimore Medical Center, a perennial leader in surgical procedures in Maryland, is the state’s first community hospital to join the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP), a nationwide initiative aimed at improving the quality of surgical care. Two Baltimore-area academic medical institutions are also members. Sponsored by the American College of Surgeons (ACS), NSQIP is the first nationally validated, outcomes-based program measuring surgical data with a goal of reducing post-operation mortality and morbidity and reducing the length of patient stays in hospitals after surgery. “As a surgical leader, we felt that voluntarily participating in NSQIP affords the hospital an opportunity to be proactive in identifying where we can improve patient care,” said Mary Whittaker, R.N., GBMC’s director of performance improvement. GBMC performs more total surgical and operative procedures than any community hospital in Maryland, (14,331 inpatient in 2005 and 31,420 outpatient procedures July 2004 – June 2005) and is second overall in the state. Each week, Diane Pfeifer, R.N., GBMC’s surgical clinical nurse reviewer, collects data from the first 40 consecutively completed general or vascular surgical cases that meet certain criteria, and sends the information to a national NSQIP database, where it is monitored and analyzed. “We expect that in late fall we’ll be able to take a look at our statistics compared with national averages and have some meaningful data on which to act,” Pfeifer said. “The most important aspect of our participation is improving patient safety,” said Dale Buchbinder, M.D., GBMC’s chairman of surgery and a practicing vascular surgeon. “This program can yield data which, when acted on, can significantly contribute to reducing surgical mortality and morbidity.” Under a Congressional mandate, the Veteran’s Administration studied surgical outcomes between 1991 and 2001, which yielded significant data and was the precursor to the NSQIP project. That study showed post-op mortality declined 27 percent, post-op morbidity was reduced by 45 percent, patients’ median length of stay in hospitals was reduced from nine to four days, and hospital costs were reduced. For more information about the NSQIP initiative, check: https://acsnsqip.org. About GBMCGBMC includes Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), Central Maryland’s leading community hospital; Hospice of Baltimore, which provides comfort and care to patients with life-limiting illnesses; the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Community Health Center, which offers comprehensive health and family services to the residents of East Baltimore; and the GBMC Foundation, which supports the GBMC mission by managing fundraising efforts. The 300-bed Medical Center, located on a beautiful suburban campus, serves nearly 22,000 inpatients annually and provides approximately 50,000 emergency room visits. For more information, go to www.gbmc.org.
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