The Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality received a three-year, $7.3 million government contract to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia--the most lethal of all hospital-acquired infections--at hospitals nationwide. Researchers plan to bring their checklist program for reducing ventilator-associated pneumonia to hospitals in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The program includes a proven checklist, education and a culture that promotes patient safety. "We know that many hospital-acquired infections are completely preventable," says Sean Berenholtz, M.D., physician director of inpatient quality and safety at the Armstrong Institute and an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "We have found a way to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonias on a smaller scale. Now we are excited to be able to bring this approach to the entire country." Article