Healthcare benchmarks
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A grass-roots effort led by nurses allowed a North Carolina hospital to cut the length of stay for patients on ventilators by 34% and the overall ICU length of stay by 25% in nine months. A ventilator protocol approved by physicians lets nurses and respiratory therapists begin weaning patients without calling the physician at every turn. Ventilator patients averaged savings of $35,000 in hospital charges during the nine-month study period.