Johns Hopkins, Lockheed Martin align over ICU improvement
The Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality of Johns Hopkins Medicine and Lockheed Martin are working together to build a better intensive care unit (ICU).
The Baltimore-based healthcare provider and Bethesda, Md.-based defense contractor jointly announced their plans, which call for reducing errors and improving care by streamlining ICU systems and processes, Dec. 14.
The program will have Hopkins researchers testing new approaches to ICU care in a learning laboratory equipped with a virtual simulation theater, an engineering workshop and a testing area with computerized mannequins.
“A hospital ICU contains 50 to 100 pieces of electronic equipment that may not communicate to one another nor work together effectively,” said Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins’ senior vice president for safety and quality, in a prepared statement. Pronovost also serves as director of the Armstrong Institute, which oversees patient safety and quality efforts throughout the institution.
Pronovost commented that the “piecemeal approach by which hospitals currently assemble ICUs” is inefficient and prone to error, adding risk to an already intricate environment. A single system that could prioritize patient alarms based on individual risk of cardiac or respiratory arrest, for example, could prevent alarm fatigue.
As part of the partnership, Robert J. Szczerba, PhD, Lockheed Martin’s corporate director of healthcare innovation, will serve on the advisory board of the Armstrong Institute. Szczerba will help guide the transfer of aerospace and defense technologies to improve patient safety and overall quality of care in the ICU.
The Baltimore-based healthcare provider and Bethesda, Md.-based defense contractor jointly announced their plans, which call for reducing errors and improving care by streamlining ICU systems and processes, Dec. 14.
The program will have Hopkins researchers testing new approaches to ICU care in a learning laboratory equipped with a virtual simulation theater, an engineering workshop and a testing area with computerized mannequins.
“A hospital ICU contains 50 to 100 pieces of electronic equipment that may not communicate to one another nor work together effectively,” said Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins’ senior vice president for safety and quality, in a prepared statement. Pronovost also serves as director of the Armstrong Institute, which oversees patient safety and quality efforts throughout the institution.
Pronovost commented that the “piecemeal approach by which hospitals currently assemble ICUs” is inefficient and prone to error, adding risk to an already intricate environment. A single system that could prioritize patient alarms based on individual risk of cardiac or respiratory arrest, for example, could prevent alarm fatigue.
As part of the partnership, Robert J. Szczerba, PhD, Lockheed Martin’s corporate director of healthcare innovation, will serve on the advisory board of the Armstrong Institute. Szczerba will help guide the transfer of aerospace and defense technologies to improve patient safety and overall quality of care in the ICU.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.