GLEN COVE, NY – Glen Cove Hospital recently received a top-quality award that recognizes its hospital-wide program to prevent deep vein thrombosis (DVT),a serious and potentially life-threatening condition.

Glen Cove Hospital, part of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, and three other hospitals nationwide received the 2010 DVTeam Care Hospital Award, given by The North American Thrombosis Forum, in coordination with Eisai Inc, a pharmaceutical company. In its second year, this award recognizes hospitals that have made a significant commitment to preventing DVT and its potentially fatal complications, including pulmonary embolism (PE). Together, DVT and PE are known as venous thromboembolism, or VTE. A DVT is a blood clot that forms in a deep vein, usually in a leg. Sometimes the clot can break away and travel through the blood stream to vital organs, such as the lungs, blocking blood vessels, causing severe injury or even death. VTEs affect approximately 900,000 people in the United States each year.

Glen Cove earned the top hospital spot in the category of a community hospital with more than 200 beds for its VTE prevention strategies. The hospital was recognized for establishing a multidisciplinary Anticoagulation Subcommittee that took the complicated task of evaluating VTE-risk assessment for every patient admitted to the hospital and incorporating it into in a well-structured prescriber’s order sheet. Glen Cove’s award winning data will be presented at the North American Thrombosis Forum’s Hospital DVT Prophylaxis Strategies seminar on April 29, which will be held at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Glen Cove’s national recognition for preventing VTEs was seven years in the making when clinical pharmacists began making rounds on patient care units, according to Timothy Hill, RPh, director of pharmacy and clinical support services for Glen Cove Hospital. “Although Glen Cove was better than the national average for VTEs, we knew, with a team approach, we could lower the incidence of this serious medical condition and provide safer outcomes for our patients.”

MaryAnne Cronin, PharmD, the hospital’s assistant director of pharmacy, said, “The VTE prevention protocols encompass the departments of surgery, medicine, orthopedics, hematology, rehabilitative medicine, nursing, quality management and pharmacy. An enthusiastic champion in each department drives the program forward. Ultimately, we were able to change the culture of the facility in terms of preventing VTEs, effectively manage our patients during their hospitalization, and better counsel our patients at discharge.”

In addition to Glen Cove Hospital’s most recent achievement, the facility was previously selected by the Institute of Healthcare Improvement as a mentor hospital for DVT prevention. They also received the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ Best Practice Award in 2007 for their work in prevention of venous thromboembolism.

Other winners of the 2010 DVTeam Care Hospital award were: the University of Michigan Health System, the University of New Mexico Hospital and the Whiteriver Indian Health Hospital in Arizona.

Media Contact: Betty Olt
516-465-2645
bolt@nshs.edu