Best Practices

West Virginia Medical Institute

Charleston Area Medical Center

Charleston Area Medical Center, a large tertiary care hospital in West Virginia, decreased its surgical infection rates through its participation with the West Virginia Medical Institute (WVMI) in the national Surgical Infection Prevention Collaborative. Between 2003 and 2004, the hospital tracked changes in surgical antibiotic administration for patients undergoing hip and knee replacements and other selected procedures. The hospital’s improvements included:

• Increasing from 62% percent to 81% the proportion of surgical patients with prophylactic antibiotics discontinued 24 hours after surgery
• Increasing from 91% to 96% the proportion of surgical patients receiving prophylactic antibiotics one hour before surgical incision
• Increasing from 90% to 94% the proportion of surgical patients receiving appropriate prophylactic antibiotics.
• WVMI is the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for West Virginia, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Statewide SIP Improvement

In 2003, WVMI, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for West Virginia, conducted an infectious disease conference and provided the state’s hospitals with educational resources focused on epidemiology, antibiotics and quality improvement. WVMI supplemented the conference with ongoing electronic information and discussion. In the following year, hospitals showed the following improvements in surgical infection prevention indicators:

• Increased from 38% to 58% the proportion of surgical patients with prophylactic antibiotics discontinued 24 hours after surgery as compared to the national rate of 48%
• Increased from 52% to 71% the proportion of surgical patients receiving prophylactic antibiotic one hour before surgical incision as compared to the national rate of 64%
• Increased from 90% to 91% the proportion of surgical patients receiving appropriate prophylactic antibiotics as compared to the national rate of 91%

For more information, contact: Marc McCombs, Communications Director at WVMI, mmcombs@wvqio.sdps.org or 304-346-9864 ext 2267.

This material was prepared by the West Virginia Medical Institute, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for West Virginia, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents do not necessarily reflect CMS policy.

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