Eric Dilda, MD
eHospital Safety Net Program
“Hospital care involves executing complex protocols in an environment full of competing priorities. Our integrated care model and advanced electronic health record provide an opportunity to monitor for care gaps in a way no one else can.”
Eric Dilda, MD, is one of those physicians who is always curious—forever asking thoughtful questions, both at the patient’s bedside and on behalf of Kaiser Permanente. This innate inquisitiveness, coupled with a passion for keeping patients safe, makes him not only a great clinician, but also an unwavering advocate for continually improving patient care.
These qualities are what led Dr. Dilda to champion eHospital Safety Net, a unique remote monitoring program that helps ensure the consistency of the quality of care provided to patients during hospital stays in KP Northern California. But his other talents, including a transformational leadership style and exceptional communication skills, enabled Dr. Dilda to ultimately unite physicians, nurses, and staff throughout the region in a shared vision for and successful implementation of the program.
With eHospital Safety Net, registered nurses at a central quality hub scan lists of patient data generated 24/7 by our electronic medical record system. When they find something that’s not quite right—a missed medication, an error in blood product administration, deteriorating vital signs, or abnormal laboratory values—they phone an assistant care manager at the local hospital to make sure nurses or physicians are aware of the patient’s situation.
Implementing the program presented significant organizational challenges and required tremendous collaboration between Permanente physicians and operational leaders, nurses, and staff with Kaiser Foundation Hospitals. Dr. Dilda partnered with everyone involved to help them understand the potential, and then organized pilots of the program in a way that facilitated discussion about which types of feedback were most valuable.
“He has an amazing capacity for seeing the big picture, communicating a compelling vision, and collaborating to get the job done,” says Anne Goldfisher, RN, MA, executive director for quality and regulatory services in KP Northern California. “eHospital Safety Net has improved the timeliness and overall quality of the care we provide, and ultimately the health outcomes of our patients.”