Clinical

Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine:
CLINICAL

Quality Improvement Measures

The division’s Adult Cystic Fibrosis Program, co-directed in FY 2014 by Veronica Indihar and Cynthia Brown, received the 2013-2014 Cystic Fibrosis Quality Care Award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF). The award, which was given to nine CFF-accredited centers around the U.S. in recognition of “outstanding service to people with CF and their families,” is based on site visits to accredited programs. Centers that received the honor excelled at meeting the following quality improvement standards:

Actively uses clinical outcomes data to identify opportunities for improvement and documents results of improvement efforts.
Aligns improvement efforts to result in measurable improvement in important clinical outcomes.
Consistently and actively involves patients and families in identifying, designing and/or implementing improvement efforts.
Employs innovative strategies to improve care processes and outcomes.
Implements system changes that result in high reliability of care processes

Critical Care

Kyle Enfield, MD, who became director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) in July 2013, leads the division’s focus on quality care in the MICU setting, including development of educational materials and training related to the “six in sixty” SEPSIS protocol (delivering the “Sepsis Six” diagnostic and therapeutic steps within 60 minutes of initial diagnosis of sepsis). The MICU also implemented family participation in daily morning rounds, which has increased patient family satisfaction as well as nursing satisfaction.

Under Dr. Enfield’s leadership, the MICU served as a pilot site for UVA Health System’s “Be Safe” campaign, including training of nursing staff, prior to full institutional roll-out in June 2014.

Lung Transplant Service

The division hired its second lung transplant pulmonologist, Dana Albon, in FY 2014; she started at UVA in July 2014. Dr. Albon did her fellowship training in pulmonary and critical care at Wake Forest University, followed by a transplant fellowship at Duke University. She will work closely with the Lung Transplant Program director, Max Weder, to support its continued expansion and growth.

Sleep Services Program

Under the leadership of Paul Suratt, the Sleep Program continued to meet the performance metrics set by the Medical Center’s MOU. In 2014, a new director for the program, Eric Davis, was hired to succeed Dr. Suratt, who is retiring this year after four decades of service to UVA. Dr. Davis trained in pulmonary and critical care at the University of Pittsburgh, and in sleep medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Procedures