Cardinal Health Foundation Offers Grants to Improve OR Safety

The Cardinal Health Foundation today announced that, for the fourth consecutive year, it will award more than $1 million in grant funding to help U.S. hospitals, health systems and community health clinics improve the efficiency and quality of care.

Earlier this year, the Cardinal Health Foundation awarded grants to 40 organizations in 25 states as part of its E3 Grant Program, which was launched in 2008 to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and excellence of health care, nationwide. Since the grant programs inception, the Cardinal Health Foundation has awarded 108 grants totaling more than $3 million.

2011 Cardinal Health E3 Grant Program applicants are encouraged to submit funding requests for projects that will improve medication safety (especially at transitions across the continuum of care) or for projects that will improve operating room (OR) safety.

In addition to funding, this years grant recipients will also receive guidance, technical support and individual assistance from medication safety experts from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and from OR safety and efficiency experts from the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN).

"We are honored to continue working with the Cardinal Health Foundation, a trusted partner that is leading the way in improving medication safety across the continuum of care," said Karen Boudreau, senior vice president of IHI. "Transitions from one care setting to another are prime opportunities for miscommunication and medication errors. Working together with the Cardinal Health Foundation and its grant recipients, we aim to harness best practices and design better systems to make medication management safer."

Applicants are strongly encouraged to refer to the IHIs web-based Improvement Map for best practice ideas for improving medication safety across transitions of care. Those interested in applying for grants to improve OR safety and efficiency should refer to the AORN Web site, aorn.org, for best practice ideas.

"The Cardinal Health Foundations E3 grants offer healthcare providers the opportunity to apply and share successful practices for improving operating room safety and efficiency," said Linda Groah, RN, MSN, CNOR, NEA-BC, FAAN, executive director and CEO of AORN. "AORN encourages healthcare providers to apply for these grants and we are pleased to provide guidance and technical assistance to the 2011 recipients of the E3 Grant Program."

Applications for E3 grants must be submitted on the Cardinal Health Web site at http://cardinalhealth.com/us/en/CommunityRelations/Apply/E3, by Dec. 3, 2010.