Three hospitals selected as recipients of the 2009 DVTeamCare Hospital Award

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."

• The Johns Hopkins Hospital developed a mandatory computer-based decision support system to facilitate specialty-specific risk factor assessment and the application of risk-appropriate Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis.
• The University of California, San Diego Medical Center designed, piloted, and implemented a VTE prevention protocol across all medical and surgical services to achieve sustained high rates of VTE prophylaxis.  
• The Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center designed a 7-step process that walks providers through an evidence-based medicine risk factor assessment to determine appropriate thromboprophylactic therapy.

The award-winning protocols for Hospital DVT Prophylaxis Strategies will be presented at a NATF hosted program on the afternoon (12:00 PM  - 4:00 PM) of April 9, 2010 at The Joseph B. Martin Conference Center at Harvard Medical School (77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA).  More information about the program and attendee registration is available online at www.NATFonline.org/hospitalvte.php or through the NATF office at 617-525-8326.

In addition, awardees will also be recognized among their peers and presented with a commemorative plaque during the NATF Annual Thrombosis Prevention Forum in Boston, Massachusetts on April 10, 2010.  After this presentation, the winning protocols and implementation plans will be made available at www.DVTeamCareAward.com to help other hospitals enhance their efforts to prevent DVT.

Twenty-two hospitals submitted nominations, which were evaluated by an independent panel of three judges selected by NATF.  All judges are nationally and internationally recognized in the areas of thrombosis, hemostasis, and venous thromboembolism (VTE).  The judges scored the submissions based on four criteria developed by NATF:  intelligence/design of the protocol; implementation; results; and clarity/preparation of the nomination.