PAGNY Dr. Michael DeVita, Director of Critical Care at NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, was awarded the Medical Director’s Award for Patient Safety at the Patient Safety Awards ceremony held on March 10 at the hospital. Dr. DeVita serves several roles at NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem. He is a Simulation Expert; Chairperson of the Code Committee/Rapid Response Team; Organ Donor Team Champion; Leader of the Sepsis Collaborative Team; and Chairperson of the ICU Committee.
Dr. DeVita is also co-chairperson of the Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee. He works closely with Dr. Hinnah Farooqi and the Harlem Pharmacy Department to help NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem win the HHC President Dr. Ramanathan Raju’s Patient Safety Award for 2015. The initiatives and projects undertaken by the Pharmacy resulted in decreasing medication errors while also decreasing expenses.
Dr. DeVita received the Medical Director’s Award because of the significant improvements in patient safety he championed at NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem during the last two years. These include improvements in patient flow to the ICU, CCU and Burn ICU; reductions in unplanned extubations and reintubations; and a reduction in the hospital cardiac arrest rates.
Dr. Maurice Wright, Medical Director of NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, described Dr. DeVita in one word: “Dynamite.”