The Learning Hospital: From Theory to Practice

As described by the Institute of Medicine, the learning hospital is distinguished by ceaseless evolution of erudition, enhancement, and implementation. A learning hospital, where “science, informatics, incentives and culture are aligned for continuous improvement and innovation,” need not be supported by additional funding from the healthcare system.

No published examples of the learning hospital exist, until now. Kudos to Colgate University student Olivia Hess and the rest of the VCU Hospital infection Prevention Program on this publication titled The learning hospital: from theory to practice in a hospital infection prevention program. The manuscript is PubMed indexed here.

To quote Dr. Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Nobel Prize winning Spanish Physician:"Discovery is not necessarily a function of special talent, but a function of hard work, which creates talent, and, low achievement is less commonly from a lack of time and resources, it is more from a lack of willpower."