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Danbury, Connecticut, December 14, 2007 — The Donaghue Foundation recently chose Danbury Hospital to receive a grant of $306,500. The grant application and award addresses a plan to implement and evaluate a new patient safety program that will enhance the hospital's ongoing efforts to promote a culture of patient safety. The top ranked University teaching hospital and regional medical center is the only hospital in CT and one of only four in New England to receive this prestigious grant.

The program, called EMPOWER, is a collaborative effort by the Chief Nurse Executive and the Chief Medical Officer to promote a culture of patient safety at Danbury Hospital through an interdisciplinary, leadership-driven communications program. The "EMPOWER" component includes Educating, Mentoring Paraprofessionals On Ways to Enhance Reporting of changes in patient status. The purpose of EMPOWER is to educate nursing assistants, and other paraprofessionals that interact with patients, to communicate changes in patient condition allowing early interventions to take place. While there are similar initiatives in many hospitals, this planned program goes a step further than others and makes a distinct effort to include the involvement of the "frontline" paraprofessionals — a process that should benefit the patient and educate the paraprofessional.

"The intended use of the knowledge gained is to protect patients by improving communication and recognizing the contribution and responsibility of all staff to keep patients safe," said Chief Medical Officer, Matthew Miller, M.D. Communication breakdown has been identified as a key impediment to patient safety in hospitals. It is our hope that the findings will contribute to the literature and the role that nurse and physician executives play in promoting leadership-driven interventions aimed at breaking down barriers to communication and building a culture of patient safety.

Moreen Donahue, DNP, RN and chief nurse executive at Danbury Hospital. Donahue adds that patient surveys, role playing exercises, motivational meetings, weekly leadership rounds, focus groups and tracking rapid response calls also will be important components of the initiative. "With our senior leadership and experienced researchers, I am confident that Danbury Hospital's program will not only increase our patient safety outcomes, but also serve as model for other medical facilities in the region and U.S. to emulate and adopt."

The Patrick & Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation was established by Ethel Donaghue in memory of her parents. The Foundation is a charitable testamentary trust dedicated to furthering the search for medical knowledge of practical benefit to human life. The Foundation focuses on initiatives to strengthen research on health issues, to promote future research leadership, and to put new knowledge to work for public benefit.

For more than 120 years, Danbury Hospital's mission in western Connecticut and nearby New York has been to advance the health and well-being of people in the community in partnership with those it serves. As a 371-bed regional medical center and university teaching hospital of New York Medical College, Danbury Hospital is the primary provider for a population of 350,000. The Hospital maintains centers of excellence in cardiovascular services, cancer, weight loss surgery, orthopedics, digestive disorders and radiology, with specialized programs for sleep disorders and asthma management. For more information, visit www.danburyhospital.org.