Improving patient care through innovative health research

Improving antibiotic use in intensive care units and helping older patients become more mobile are the focuses of two new Adopting Research to Improve Care (ARTIC) Projects being launched by the Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario (CAHO) today.

The CAHO ARTIC Program — a program aimed at moving research evidence from the bench to the bedside to drive quality and improve patient care — takes innovative evidenced-based research from one CAHO research hospital and implements it across the CAHO community. This year, the successful CAHO ARTIC Projects are:

• Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) in Intensive Care Units: Developed by Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto) in collaboration with University Health Network, this program will help intensive care units optimize the use of antimicrobials to improve patient outcomes while minimizing antimicrobial resistance and costs.
• Mobilization of Vulnerable Elders in Ontario (MOVE ON): Developed jointly by Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Toronto) and St. Michael's Hospital (Toronto), this program will promote early mobilization and prevent functional decline in older patients admitted to hospitals.

"We are delighted to have selected two projects that address a critical health care need," said Karen Michell, Executive Director of CAHO. "Both the ASP and MOVE ON Projects will help implement evidence-based practices to improve the delivery of care in some of our most vulnerable populations."

The 2011 CAHO ARTIC Projects were selected from among 50 potential research projects that applied to the CAHO ARTIC Program. Projects were assessed based on their high potential system impact, robust research evidence and a feasible implementation plan. In addition, successful projects had to pass a Barriers Assessments stage, ensuring strong endorsement from the broader CAHO community.

"At Mount Sinai Hospital and University Health Network, we have seen the real, tangible benefits resulting from this research and the improvement in the quality of care our intensive care patients received" said Dr. Andrew Morris, Director, Mount Sinai Hospital-University Health Network Antimicrobial Stewardship Program. "The Antimicrobial Stewardship Program will allow us to achieve the triple aim of healthcare by improving patient outcomes, improving the health of the larger population, and saving money at the same time. We are thrilled that this research will have an impact beyond our institution and benefit patients across the province."

"The current rates of mobilization in patients admitted to acute care hospitals are unacceptably low," said Dr. Barbara Liu, Executive Director of the Regional Geriatric Program of Toronto, and Geriatrician, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. "Through the MOVE ON project implementation in Toronto, we have seen the positive impact early mobilization can have on our patients such as maintaining functional abilities, increasing the likelihood of returning to the community, and decreasing the risk of delirium."

"The MOVE ON project has demonstrated how collaboration in the research community can have a real impact on the care we provide our patients," said Dr. Sharon Straus, Director, Knowledge Translation program, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital and University of Toronto. "Understanding how we can translate that knowledge beyond our own labs and institutions to affect positive change across the system is at the core of improving the quality and sustainability of our health system."

Committed to fostering better collaboration and trying to establish a systematic approach to moving research evidence into practice, CAHO launched the Adopting Research to Improve Care (ARTIC) Program in 2010. Since its inception, the ARTIC Program has successfully launched 2 projects: the first addressing wait times in the ER by making better uses of inter-professional resources; and the second addressing the challenge of infection control and hand hygiene compliance.