Inova Fairfax Hospital

Inova Fairfax Hospital (IFH) is a 923-bed tertiary care hospital campus providing most medical and surgical specialties and houses Northern Virginia's only Level 1 Trauma Center and the nation's fifth-busiest obstetrics program (with nearly 12,000 live births in 2006). It is one of only six community hospitals in the nation offering the full spectrum of organ transplantation. It has been named among the top 50 hospitals for gastrointestinal disorders, gynecology, and heart surgery by U.S. News & World Report.[2]

In 2016, Inova Fairfax and University of Virginia Health System announced a partnership involving a $112 million research institute and a University of Virginia School of Medicine regional campus at Inova.[3] The plan involves developing a Global Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Institute at the Inova Center for Personalized Health, which will be funded by UVA, Inova, and the Virginia General Assembly. They also intend to collaborate on research between the Inova Schar Cancer Institute and the University of Virginia Cancer Research Center.[4]

Inova Fairfax Hospital is also a satellite clinical campus for students from Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Medicine and the University of Virginia School of Medicine[4] and hosts residents from other universities in the area. The hospital also houses the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy’s Inova Campus in which students can complete their third and fourth years of training.

On September 29, 2011, it was announced that Inova will outsource and layoff 606 jobs. Environmental Service, Laundry, and Teleservices were the departments affected. On about February 17, 2012, it was announced that Inova will outsource and layoff an unknown number of employees. Safety and Security, Patient Transport, and Medical Records were among the departments affected.

The following were statistics at the end of the year ending June 30, 2009:

• Admissions: 54,361
• Inpatient surgeries: 19,349
• Outpatient visits: 392,405
• Emergency room visits: 98,317
• Births: 11,182
• Number of beds: 833

In early 2020, hospitals across the country, including Inova Fairfax hospital began preparations for anticipated mass influx critically ill patients affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of the most notable responses included attempts to stock up and ration medical equipment, notably personal protective equipment (PPE) and mechanical ventilators, the termination of all elective surgical procedures, cross training clinical staff to operate in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the reallocation of certain clinical services to bolster those under more stress. For example, Physical Therapy services were drawn back initially (due to low patient census) and (PT) Technicians were cross-trained and staffed to bolster Respiratory Therapist teams. In "the Towers" the medical surgical intermediate care unit was outfitted to accommodate the increased census of critically ill, intubated patients and much of the staff was cross-trained to work to meet ICU goals of care. The Team nursing model was introduced to various units throughout the hospital in anticipation of higher acuity needs.[5]

Physical changes made to individual units included the conversion of almost all patient rooms to negative pressure isolation. Certain circumstances causing aerosolized viral droplets (mechanical ventilatory equipment or ventilatory assist devices such as High Flow Nasal Canula) need to be treated as airborne. The standard isolation of which is a negative pressure isolated room with appropriate PPE for enclosed staff. [5].

Other procedural changes instituted by the campus were the creation of designated staff entrances by restricting building access to specific places and the near termination of all non-patient visitors to the hospital. This was especially difficult to loved ones who could not be allowed to see their family in person. From the perspective of at least one healthcare worker it was even more saddening since many acutely ill patients (requiring intubation and other ICU protocols) were middle age with young children[5].

• Best Hospitals, U.S. News & World Report: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000
• Best Hospitals, U.S. News & World Report: 2014 Gynecology Nationally Ranked #19
• Best Hospitals, Heart and Heart Surgery, U.S. News & World Report: #21 (2007)
• Magnet Nursing Status: American Nurses Association
• America's 50 Best Hospitals: 2007-2012 by HealthGrades
• 50 Best Hospitals in America: February 23, 2011, by Becker's Hospital Review[6]

The hospital has received numerous other awards as well.[7]

The HealthGrades website contains the clinical quality data for Inova Fairfax Hospital, as of 2017. For this rating section three different types of data from HealthGrades are presented: clinical quality ratings for thirty-eight inpatient conditions and procedures, thirteen patient safety indicators and the percentage of patients giving the hospital as a 9 or 10 (the two highest possible ratings).

For inpatient conditions and procedures, there are three possible ratings: worse than expected, as expected, better than expected. For this hospital the data for this category is:

• Worse than expected - 5
• As expected - 24
• Better than expected - 9

For patient safety indicators, there are the same three possible ratings. For this hospital safety indicators were rated as:

• Worse than expected - 1
• As expected - 10
• Better than expected - 2

Percentage of patients rating this hospital as a 9 or 10 - 76% Percentage of patients who on average rank hospitals as a 9 or 10 - 69%[8]

• INOVA Fairfax Hospital | INOVA Health System