The North American Thrombosis Forum (NATF), in coordination with Eisai Inc., announced today that three hospitals have been selected as recipients of the 2009 DVTeamCare Hospital Award. This new award was established by Eisai to recognize hospitals that have made a significant commitment to preventing deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and its potentially fatal complications, including pulmonary embolism (PE).
Throughout the year, NATF and Eisai invited healthcare professionals from across the country to nominate their hospital for the first annual DVTeamCare Hospital Award and share their protocols and implementation strategies for preventing DVT. The award is an extension of NATF's goal of enhancing thrombosis education, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment to improve patient outcomes and Eisai's human health care (hhc) mission, which is to give first thought to patients and their families, and to increasing the benefits that health care provides.
The Johns Hopkins Hospital (Maryland) and the University of California, San Diego Medical Center tied as award recipients among hospitals with more than 200 beds. Washington DC Veterans Affairs Hospital is the award recipient among hospitals with less than 200 beds.
"We reviewed a series of submissions focused on VTE prevention," said John Fanikos, RPh, MBA, Treasurer of NATF and Assistant Director of Pharmacy at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. "The successful common denominator was multiple disciplines within a hospital, rolling up their sleeves, working together, and either using the tools available, or improving those tools, or creating new ones to improve VTE prophylaxis. The initiatives, the innovation, and the efforts were impressive."