The 1,000,000 lives campaign

The Institute of Medicine’s report “Crossing the Quality Chasm” estimated that as many as 98,000 lives are lost each year in hospitals in the United States due to medical errors.¹ In response, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has developed an ambitious “100,000 Lives” campaign, aimed at saving 100,000 lives each year in the US.² The IHI is a non-profit organization that is seeking to improve health by “advancing the quality and value of healthcare”. The IHI is enlisting 2000 hospitals across the US to participate in this campaign by instituting six evidenced based strategies to decrease hospital deaths: (1) rapid response teams to reverse signs of acute cardiorespiratory decline in patients and prevent cardiorespiratory arrests; (2) evidence based care for patients with acute myocardial infarctions; (3) medication reconciliation to prevent adverse drug effects; (4) prevention of central line infections through five simple interventions for care of central lines; (5) use of preoperative antibiotics to prevent surgical wound infections; and (6) prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia through four simple interventions. This 100,000 lives campaign is a voluntary activity in which hospitals sign up to participate, receive “how to” guides on each of the six topics, and share information with one another on accomplishments. Over 2500 hospitals have agreed to participate, acknowledging the fact that quality of care and patient safety are increasingly recognized by the public as important to their own individual health.

These kinds of bold, but feasible, goals have been responsible for enormous advances in the health of people around the world. The goal of eradication of smallpox was set and achieved, wiping out a scourge that existed in the world for …