ELSO Award for Excellence in Life Support

Center of Excellence

Award for Excellence
Awardees
Application

Feedback

Contact ELSO

ELSO’s “Excellence in Life Support Award”

The ELSO, “Excellence in Life Support” award was created to recognize and acknowledge extraordinary achievement in the following three categories:

1) Excellence in promoting the mission, activities, and vision of ELSO

2) Excellence in patient care by using the highest quality measures, processes, and structures based upon evidence,

3) And excellence in training, education, collaboration, and communication that supports the ELSO guidelines and contributes to a healing environment.

Why Apply to be a Center of Excellence?

ECMO in any facility indicates a commitment to exceptional patient care, specialized equipment and supplies, defined patient protocols, advanced education of all staff members, and high quality standards. ELSO’s goal is to recognize and honor ECMO programs internationally who reach the highest level of performance, innovation, satisfaction and quality. Recipients of the Excellence in Life Support Award will receive an engraved plaque and be recognized at the Annual ELSO Conference and on ELSO’s website. ECMO Centers may use the award to market themselves in the community as recognized leaders in extracorporeal life support. A press release will be provided to each center for recognition in the media as a leader in critical care. In an environment now focused on “outcomes”, the ELSO Award for Excellence in Life Support provides evidence of the commitment of the institution to high quality state of the art healthcare.

Who Should Apply?

ECMO centers that are committed to excellence in extracorporeal life support should apply. You must be an active member of ELSO for two years and treat an average of five patients per year with ECLS. Award applicants should demonstrate a practice based on ELSO guidelines, evidence based medicine, and show a commitment to providing excellent care to patients and their families. All ECLS patients within a facility must be reported to ELSO for inclusion in the Registry to apply for the award. This is an international award, and all eligible ECMO centers may apply.

How to Apply

Applications for the award can be downloaded below and when completed emailed to prycus@umich.edu. The application questions may be answered in simple yes or no responses, and then supported with a narrative that is limited to 300 words. A small amount of demographic data will be collected but not scored in the application. The demographic data is blinded to the award reviewers. There is no deadline for application. The awards will be reviewed and evaluated as submitted, and then awarded once the application review process is complete. The completed application must be submitted by June 15^thof each year to be eligible for announcement at that year’s Annual ELSO Conference. There are two copies required at submission. The first will be sent online to Peter Rycus, MPH for committee review, and the second will be a hard copy signed by the director responsible for the ECMO unit. Do not fax in the hard copy but mail to the ELSO office at:

ELSO Office
1327 Jones Drive Suite 101
Ann Arbor, MI 48105

What is the cost of Application?

The application fee for the Excellence in Life Support Award is $2,000. The award is active for two years from the month it is awarded, and ECMO centers may reapply every two years for consideration. Payment is to accompany the hard copy of the application. If your centers application is not accepted, there is a reapplication process available at no cost.

How will my Application be Validated?

Each center may be asked by committee reviewers to substantiate selected answers on the application. The documentation must be provided to ELSO within two weeks.

Who Reviews the Applications?

An expert panel is appointed by the ELSO Steering Committee. These individuals represent the varied professions involved in the administration and practice of ECLS. Each application will be evaluated by three award reviewers.

What if my Award Application is not Successful?

If the reviewers find an application deficient, recommendations will be made to help the center achieve the award. The center will then have three months to develop and submit an action plan to comply with ELSO guidelines. After six months of action plan implementation, the center can resubmit the application at no cost. The award will be active for two years from the time of the original submission.

Award for Excellence Application (updated September 2006)

ELSO is proud to showcase those centers who have been designated as a Center of Excellence

Through September 2008
(listed in the order the application was received)

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Cook Children's Medical Center
Fort Worth, Texas

Legacy Emanuel Children's Hospital and Health Center
Portland, Oregon

Medical College of Georgia Health Inc.
Augusta, Georgia

Children's Mercy Hospitals & Clinics
Kansas City, Missouri

Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital
Houston, Texas

Through September 2009
(listed in the order the application was received)

Arkansas Children's Hospital
Little Rock, Arkansas

Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center
Nijmegen, The Netherlands