Perioperative Blood Management Project selected as winner for the 2021 Team Award for Quality Improvement from BJC HealthCare

Congratulations to the Perioperative Blood Management Project on winning the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Team Award for Quality Improvement!

The Perioperative Blood Management Project was initiated in 2019 to address high rates of blood product waste in the operating rooms. Through a process called Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FEMA), a multidisciplinary group scrutinized every possible failure in the complex blood use system and then created a prioritized list of action items, including:

Over the past two and a half years, the team has employed various strategies ranging from education to the development of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) applications and changes to delivery mechanisms. Overall blood product waste was reduced by 84 percent and has been maintained at this level for nearly two years (see graph below).

The committee continues to meet regularly for continuous improvement of blood ordering and use in the operating rooms. Plans for future performance improvement are currently focused on the goal of efficient blood ordering.

Team members were selected based on involvement in perioperative blood management and representative of each clinical area relevant in the process. Members of the project include:

• Megan Dewey, MD — current pediatric anesthesia fellow at St. Louis Children’s Hospital; residency graduate 2021 and former chief resident 2020-2021
• Sunny Lou, MD, PhD — current cardiac anesthesia research fellow participating in the Academic Scholars Advancement Program
• Mara Bollini, MHA, BSN, RN, CPPS — Performance Improvement Consultant
• Troy Wildes, MD — Chief of Perioperative Medicine; Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
• Tracey Stevens, MD — Deputy Division Chief of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology; Associate Professor of Anesthesiology                
• Derek Harford — Data Analyst
• Renata Slayton, MPH — Process Improvement Consultant                     
• Cindy Ingold, BS — Manager, Transfusion Medicine
• Brenda Grossman, MD, MPH — Medical Director, Transfusion Medicine; Professor, Pathology & Immunology
• Jackie Martin, MD, MBA — Vice President of Perioperative Services       
• Ivan Kangrga, MD, PhD — Vice Chair for Health System Liaison; Director of Quality and Safety for Perioperative Services; Professor of Anesthesiology

“I’m so proud of the work this team has accomplished in improving organizational performance and quality of care,” says Ivan Kangrga, MD, PhD. “I look forward to watching the committee’s continued progress on this important initiative.”