2019 Vigi Award Winners
Discover the creative ways that our star customers have made their hospitals a safer place with VigiLanz.
The annual Vigi Awards are designed to recognize how clinicians’ vigilance has contributed to healthier hospitals. In addition to broadening awareness of optimal and innovative uses of VigiLanz to support patient care, VigiLanz provides winners with a donation to the charity of their choice.
Celebrate excellence
Let us recognize how your vigilance has contributed to a healthier hospital.
Support a cause
VigiLanz will make a financial donation in the winners’ honor to a charity of their choice.
Build your community
Your story will be showcased and shared with other VigiLanz customers.
Infection Prevention Winners
RISING STAR Lindsey Bruchhaus, MSN, RN, CPHQ
HOUSTON METHODIST, THE WOODLANDS HOSPITAL
THE WOODLANDS, TX
Recognized for:
Effective cross-departmental use of a VigiLanz tool at one hospital in the health system. The solution can now be used throughout the system.
Result:
- Uses VigiLanz’s microbiology reports to capture culture collection date, discharge date, sensitivity results, and physician information
- Automated reports are emailed to relevant clinicians
- Physicians can access real-time reports and make antibiotic adjustments as needed
Overall benefit:
- Improved efficiency, which has enabled the system to make rapid patient safety improvements.
- Decreased costs due to identifying more opportunities to de-escalate antibiotics
- Improved performance in meeting length of stay targets
FIVE STAR PATIENT CARE Infection Prevention Team
PHOENIX CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
PHOENIX, AZ
Recognized for:
Building a rule to better identify blood contamination cultures in the ED
Result:
- Enabled the team to view blood draw contamination information in real time
- Enabled better identification of patients who had contaminated specimens rather than true infections
Overall benefit:
- Reduced the number of return visits and readmissions
- Reduced unnecessary antibiotic use
- Eliminated unnecessary costs
THEY DID WHAT? WOW Industrial Hygiene Team
CHILDREN’S HEALTHCARE OF ATLANTA
ATLANTA, GA
Recognized for:
Using the ICRA tool at a very high volume as they manage major construction projects
Result:
- More efficient and thorough logging of all ICRA permits
- Improved tracking of ICRAs in real time
- Elimination of paper and printing costs
Overall benefit:
- Cost savings and improved work flows, communication, and a safer construction experience for staff, patients, families, and construction workers
- Clearer and smarter decision-making related to contractor partnerships
STANDING OVATION Epidemiology and Infection Prevention Department
UCI MEDICAL CENTER
ORANGE, CA
Recognized for:
Developing rules to support CLISA (Central Line Insertion Site Assessment) scoring, part of a program to reduce CLABSI rates
Result:
Established action items and expectations for the bedside nurse and treating physician for each of the CLISA score levels (higher score levels correlated with higher CLABSI risk)
Overall benefit:
- Helped the team identify high-risk central lines for targeted intervention
- Now maintain CLABSI standardized infection ratios (SIRs) consistently at 0.5 or below
LOOK OUT WORLD; ONE TO WATCH Epidemiology and Infection Control Team
ST. BERNARDS MEDICAL CENTER
JONESBORO, AR
Recognized for:
Using VigiLanz tools to better identify multiple infection types and identify patients requiring isolation
Result:
- More easily and quickly identify if a patient requires an isolation
- More easily and quickly identify and prioritize surgical site infections, CLABSI infections, and other reportable infections to the health department and NHSN
Overall benefit:
- Improved efficiency and reduced costs
- Improved quality, including reducing CLABSI infections and C. Diff infections by over half
Pharmacy Winners
RISING STAR Brock Taylor, PharmD
ADVENTIST HEALTH AND RIDEOUT
MARYSVILLE, CA
Recognized for:
Improving use of VigiLanz with rule refinement, and promoting its use across 19 additional hospitals in the Adventist Health System
Result:
- More targeted and appropriate alerts issued to clinicians and leadership
- Significant reduction in antibiotic use, and now meeting national standards for antibiotic utilization
- Significant reductions in C. diff infections
Overall benefit:
- Improved efficiency and reduced annual antibiotic expenses by $500,000
- Proactive interventions and better clinical outcomes
FIVE STAR PATIENT CARE Jeremy Frens, PharmD, BCPS-AQ ID
PULMONIX AT CONE HEALTH
GREENSBORO, NC
Recognized for:
Developing out-of-the-box uses for VigiLanz, including:
- Using VigiLanz data mining to identify areas of improvement and create care bundles to standardize patient care
- Creating VigiLanz rules to aid with time-sensitive recruitment across the health system for a clinical trial
Result:
- Improved system-wide interventions for treating staph aureus bacteremia, and enterococcal and candida bloodstream infections
- Real-time alerts allow the research team to communicate to treatment teams, resulting in Tamiflu administration to hospitalized patients with Flu A on a more timely basis
Overall benefit:
- Reduction in readmissions from staph aureus bacteremia from 11 percent to 4 percent
- Achieved recruitment goals and led recruitment nationwide clinical trial
- Consistency of care and reduced costs
THEY DID WHAT? WOW John J. Veillette, PharmD, BCPS
INTERMOUNTAIN HEALTHCARE
SALT LAKE CITY, UT
Recognized for:
Using VigiLanz to complement a telehealth antimicrobial stewardship program
Result:
- 40 percent reduction in facility-specific broad spectrum antibiotic use
- Earlier identification of serious bacterial bloodstream infections
Overall benefit:
- Improved care/access for rural patients at 17 small community hospitals
- Reduced costs, more rapid interventions, and improved clinical outcomes
STANDING OVATION Katherine Perez, PharmD, BCID
HOUSTON METHODIST
HOUSTON, TX
Recognized for:
Integrating rapid diagnostics and antimicrobial stewardship to improve patient outcomes
Result:
- Dashboard built, enabling 24/7 on-call visibility to patient cases even without EMR access
- Significantly reduced time in intensive care, length of stay, and mortality for patients with gram-negative bloodstream infections
- 43 percent reduction in hospital costs per patient
Overall benefit:
- Earlier initiation of targeted antimicrobial therapy
- Standardized care expanded system-wide to include all community hospitals
- Reduced costs and better clinical outcomes
LOOK OUT WORLD; ONE TO WATCH Liza Vaezi, MSc., PharmD, DPLA, BCPS-AQ ID Laura Lavezo, PharmD Jamie Moran, MSN, RN, CIC Erica Lawrence, MSN, RN Punam Verma, PhD Chia Wang, MD
VIRGINIA MASON MEDICAL CENTER
SEATTLE, WA
Recognized for:
Effective cross-departmental use of VigiLanz to predict C. diff infection risk
Result:
- Significant decrease in hospital-onset CDI rates and antimicrobial days of therapy
- Better targeting of at-risk patients
Overall benefit:
- Improved efficiency and reduced costs
- Proactive interventions and better clinical outcomes
Nominees
Margaret Baker
Adventist Health Bakersfield
Pharmacy Department
Hoag Hospital
Joni Freitas
Adventist Health Castle
James Constable, PharmD
Houston Methodist Baytown
Pharmacy Department
Adventist Health Ukiah Valley
Caitlin Corker Relph, PharmD, MAT
Magnolia Regional Health Center
Pharmacy Department
Antelope Valley Hospital
Zina Gugkaeva, PharmD
Maury Regional Medical Center
Amber Miller
Antelope Valley Hospital
Infection Prevention Team
Mount Sinai Health System
Infection Prevention Team
Capital Region Medical Center
Breanne Chipman, PharmD
Park City Hospital
Pharmacy Department
Chambersburg Hospital
Matthew Thielbar, PharmD, BCPS
Parkview Medical Center
Raghav Tirupathi, MD
Chambersburg Hospital
Pharmacy Department
Riverside University Health System Medical Center
Pharmacy and Antimicrobial Stewardship Teams
Freeman Health System