Meaningful Innovations in Care
When infection rates declined among UVA’s elderly and sickest patients, they had a UVA engineering alum and businessman to thank. The same is true for certain surgical, stroke, and joint replacement patients. All of these patients benefited from innovations conceived by UVA nurses, physicians, and caregivers and funded through the Charles L. Brown Award for Patient Care Quality. The Brown Award honors the late Charles L. Brown, a former patient and alumnus of UVA’s School of Engineering and Applied Science who also served on UVA’s Board of Visitors. Each year, a $10,000 Brown Quality Award goes to the Health System team that engineers the most successful change to improve quality, safety, or outcomes for patients. The winning team can use the award for more training or for continued quality improvements.
“This is a wonderful incentive for our staff,” says Tracey Hoke, MD, chief, Quality and Performance, UVA Health System. “It inspires and motivates our teams, pushing us to always do our best and acknowledging the essential role each of us plays in safety and quality patient care. A $10,000 award can take an innovative idea and translate it into a highly efficient new program to benefit patients.”
Brown, whose distinguished business career included chairing AT&T and serving on the boards of several national corporations, left a generous bequest to UVA Health System, which was used to create the award. Recently, Brown’s widow, Ann Lee Saunders Brown, visited UVA to celebrate the impact the award has had across UVA Health System. In an expression of her lifetime devotion to her husband and her joy in seeing his legacy continue in perpetuity, Brown has made an additional commitment to permanently endow the award.
“Charlie Brown had a long-standing and deep dedication to the University, a history of philanthropy across Grounds, and a reputation as an accomplished, honorable, and generous leader,” notes Richard Shannon, MD, executive vice president for health affairs. “Through this award, Charlie and Ann Lee Brown will improve the lives of thousands of patients and healthcare providers. It is my hope that UVA Health System can become a model for the very attributes that this award represents.”
Brown, whose distinguished business career included chairing AT&T and serving on the boards of several national corporations, left a generous bequest to UVA Health System, which was used to create the award. Recently, Brown’s widow, Ann Lee Saunders Brown, visited UVA to celebrate the impact the award has had across UVA Health System. In an expression of her lifetime devotion to her husband and her joy in seeing his legacy continue in perpetuity, Brown has made an additional commitment to permanently endow the award.
“Charlie Brown had a long-standing and deep dedication to the University, a history of philanthropy across Grounds, and a reputation as an accomplished, honorable, and generous leader,” notes Richard Shannon, MD, executive vice president for health affairs. “Through this award, Charlie and Ann Lee Brown will improve the lives of thousands of patients and healthcare providers. It is my hope that UVA Health System can become a model for the very attributes that this award represents.”
Today, Brown’s photograph graces the Health System’s Situation Room, an area dedicated to solving any issue that interferes with excellent patient care. To be considered for the Brown Award, UVA healthcare providers submit their patient-focused projects for competitive review. Over the past few years, the Brown Award has supported projects to reduce infections in the Transitional Care Hospital, enhance recoveries for surgical patients, improve outcomes for joint replacement patients, and benefit patients who have suffered a stroke. Most recently, the award touched even the Medical Center’s youngest patients, putting in place additional safeguards to ensure that a mother’s breastmilk is always securely handled and reserved for her newborn.
“To be the recipients of this prestigious award and to meet Ann Lee Brown has been an extraordinary privilege,” says Rachel Nauman (BSN ’01), NICU nurse manager. “This generous gift will have a tremendous impact on the safety and quality of care for our tiniest and most fragile patients.”
