Doylestown Hospital initiative earns first place in Delaware Valley Patient Safety and Quality Awards

Success with an innovative patient safety effort in response to the COVID-19 pandemic earned Doylestown Hospital a first place award from a regional health care authority.
The project, “Innovations to Optimize Monoclonal Antibody Infusions for COVID-10,” earned Doylestown Hospital first place in the 2020-2021 Delaware Valley Patient Safety and Quality Awards from the Health Care Improvement Foundation.
Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-made proteins that mimic the immune system’s ability to fight harmful pathogens such as viruses. Monoclonal antibody drugs were given emergency use authorization by the FDA to treat certain COVID-19 patients at high risk for developing severe COVID-19 symptoms or who might require hospitalization.

Doylestown Hospital formed a multidisciplinary team that included associates from the emergency department, pharmacy, medical research, nursing, IT and others to begin offering monoclonal antibody infusions to outpatients referred by community physicians. The antibodies were obtained by allocation from the government at no cost. The team made use of the emergency response tent erected in front of the hospital during the height of the pandemic to administer infusions and keep COVID patients out of the hospital setting. Later, when the tent was dismantled, infusions moved to an isolated area of the Emergency Department, where a dedicated nurse administers infusions to patients.
The team continues to work collaboratively to educate staff and patients and run a successful program, adapting along the way to virus variants, surges and staffing challenges. Doylestown Hospital has administered more than 1,000 monoclonal antibody infusions since Nov. 2020, helping to prevent severe illness and hospitalization for COVID patients.
Doylestown Hospital was selected first place from a total of 24 submissions from 14 hospitals (or seven health systems) in the Southeast PA region. A multidisciplinary team from Doylestown Hospital was honored during a virtual awards ceremony on Nov. 9.

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