Year 5. August 10. Our Relentless Commitment to Patient Quality and Safety
Leading in innovation, transforming care and advancing health for all, manifests its outworking in many ways. This week, I focus on a few examples of our LEADERShip in accomplishing lifesaving and nationally recognized quality performance that are driven by many of our faculty, staff and trainees. It is gratifying to see our department’s longstanding and broad-based commitment to quality safety and optimal patient outcomes being recognized.
Building A System for Sepsis Care Excellence
When a patient develops sepsis, early recognition and timely treatment can make the difference between life and death. Sepsis remains one of the leading causes of inpatient mortality, longer hospital stays, readmissions and increased healthcare costs, making it a critical priority across the health system.
Under the LEADERShip of Russell Kerbel, MD, medical director of Sepsis Prevention and faculty in the hospitalist section, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center received the Joint Commission Disease-Specific Certification for Sepsis Care, a prestigious designation recognizing healthcare organizations that provide exceptional sepsis care across the continuum of care.
The certification reflects years of work by a multidisciplinary team dedicated to creating a system that supports patients at every stage of their health care journey. Joint Commission surveyors highlighted several strengths of our sepsis program, including consistent sepsis screening throughout the hospitals, a robust data and analytics infrastructure, innovative obstetric screening tools and the expertise and partnership of emergency department teams in recognizing sepsis early.
For Dr. Kerbel the certification represents far more than an external recognition.
"Sepsis certification is not an endpoint. It is the beginning of a process of health system accountability, demonstrating that we are willing to ‘walk the walk,’ by continually measuring our performance, identifying gaps and improving the care we provide.”
Sepsis can emerge in virtually any care setting, from the emergency department and intensive care unit to medical and surgical floors and sometimes after procedures. Each environment presents unique workflows and operational considerations, requiring close collaboration across departments and disciplines. Collaboration was essential to the certification effort and remains one of the most important outcomes. Faculty, trainees, nurses, pharmacists, quality leaders, data analysts and frontline staff all played important roles in developing policies, participating in committees, building clinical tools and advancing educational initiatives.
According to Dr. Kerbel, the effort helped break down traditional silos and foster stronger connections among clinical care teams, quality improvement leaders, informaticists, educators and operational partners.
"The willingness of leadership and frontline staff to actively participate in committees, policies, procedures and clinical builds, transformed this from a certification project into a truly systemwide initiative," he said.
The team is already focused on expanding partnerships across UCLA Health, strengthening sepsis education for trainees and clinical teams, collaborating with emergency medical services and community partners, and improving patient and family education about sepsis recognition and recovery. They will also be exploring new opportunities to advance care through innovation, including evaluating artificial intelligence models, implementing emerging diagnostic technologies and using data-driven approaches to identify sepsis earlier and personalize treatment.
We extend our congratulations to Dr. Kerbel, the sepsis team and the many colleagues who helped achieve this recognition which reflects our commitment to excellence and high-quality patient care.
Expanding Specialized Care for Patients with Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia
The UCLA Department of Medicine’s (DoM) commitment to advancing care for patients with complex and rare diseases recently achieved an important milestone as Patricia Eshaghian, MD, director of the UCLA Cystic Fibrosis Program and faculty in the UCLA Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, led the accreditation of an adult and pediatric Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD) Center, the first accredited adult PCD center in Los Angeles.
For Dr. Eshaghian, the new accreditation builds upon more than a decade of work within the DoM to develop comprehensive care models for patients living with PCD, a rare genetic condition in which cilia (hair-like structures in the airway lining) do not move properly to clear mucus and germs, resulting in chronic lung, sinus and ear infections. In 2013, she partnered with pediatric pulmonary colleagues to establish UCLA's combined adult and pediatric accredited Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Center. Since then, the program has grown into one of California's largest CF centers and has become a model for multidisciplinary care, research and education.
That experience helped inspire the creation of the new PCD program.
"With the success of our CF center, we saw how proper, compassionate, evidence-based care at an accredited center can truly change patients' lives," Dr. Eshaghian said. "We wanted to provide individuals living with PCD with that same level of multidisciplinary expertise and support."
The need is significant. Since PCD is uncommon, many patients spend years seeking answers before receiving an accurate diagnosis. The newly accredited program will bring together pulmonary specialists, nurses, respiratory therapists, dietitians, social workers, genetic counselors and numerous subspecialty partners to address the complex needs of this population.
"PCD patients require multidisciplinary medical care, so we could not have achieved this designation without participation from our non-pulmonary colleagues," she said. "This truly reflects the teamwork and support across our division, department and UCLA Health."
Dr. Eshaghian credits the accomplishment to the collective efforts of pulmonary faculty including Grant Turner, MD and Yuqing Gao, MD, pediatric pulmonary colleagues Douglas Li, MD and Danielle Safatian, MD, and many partners across genetics, cardiology, pathology, otolaryngology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, obstetrics and gynecology, and urology.
Dr. Eshaghian and her team hope to continue growing our role as a leader in PCD research, creating opportunities for patients to participate in clinical studies while advancing understanding of the disease and developing new treatments. The team is also committed to improving access and representation for underserved populations, including Southern California's Hispanic community, which is disproportionately affected by PCD but remains underrepresented in national registries.
Looking ahead, Dr. Eshaghian is excited about continuing to build a program that mirrors the success of UCLA's CF center and expanding opportunities for patients living with PCD.
"Our goal is to help people living with PCD live longer, healthier lives," she said.
UCLA Cardiology Division Earns Top Honors for Exceptional Patient Care
The UCLA Division of Cardiology’s commitment to delivering exceptional patient care was recently recognized on the national stage when the cardiology team at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center received the 2026 Chest Pain-MI Registry Performance Achievement Award at the Platinum level, one of the highest distinctions awarded through the American College of Cardiology's National Cardiovascular Data Registry.
The award recognizes hospitals that consistently deliver evidence-based care for patients experiencing heart attacks and other acute cardiac events, meeting rigorous national standards designed to improve outcomes and save lives.
"This award reflects a system-wide collaboration that honors the teamwork and culture of commitment to patient care at Ronald Reagan," said Marcella Calfon Press, MD, PhD, interventional cardiologist and associate clinical professor of medicine. "So many individuals each play a role, across departments and specialties- truly reflecting the shared commitment to maintaining high standards of care and adherence to national guidelines outlined by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association (ACC/AHA).”
That spirit of partnership allows the cardiology team to maintain the high standards of care established by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association while continually advancing quality and patient outcomes.
In addition to earning the 2026 Chest Pain – MI Registry Performance Achievement Award, the division of cardiology along with other members of our health care team, earned the American Heart Association’s Commitment to Quality award for achieving high performance across three or more clinical areas in the Get With The Guidelines® program.
Hospitals earning this recognition demonstrate a comprehensive, systemwide approach to quality improvement. Through recognition in three or more Get With The Guidelines programs, these organizations commit to using real-time data registries, evidence-based clinical protocols and cross-disciplinary collaboration to raise the standard of care across multiple specialties.
We are proud to note that the divisions commitment to excellence was further recognized by the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Heart Failure Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center’s cardiology team and their commitment to advancing the latest evidence-based guidelines for treating patients with heart failure, one of the nation's most common and challenging chronic conditions. According to the American Heart Association, approximately 6.7 million U.S. adults are currently living with heart failure, a number expected to increase significantly over the coming years.
“The recognition represents a collective achievement across UCLA Health, bringing together physicians, nurses, advanced practice providers, pharmacists, quality teams and numerous clinical and administrative partners. It highlights UCLA’s commitment to ensuring that evidence-based therapies, multidisciplinary coordination, patient education and continuity of care are consistently incorporated into the treatment of patients with heart failure,” says Ravi Dave, MD, director of interventional cardiology at UCLA Health.
He adds, “more broadly, the achievement reflects a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement throughout the cardiovascular program. As UCLA continues to advance cardiovascular medicine through clinical innovation, research, prevention and personalized care, the division remains focused on a central goal: translating scientific and technological advances into longer, healthier lives for patients.”
Rounding out the divisions strong honors, our commitment to advancing cardiovascular care was also recognized through the American Heart Association's Target: Aortic Stenosis™ Honor Roll Award, which honors hospitals dedicated to improving the diagnosis, treatment and management of aortic stenosis, one of the most common and serious forms of heart valve disease.
More than 1.7 million Americans over the age of 65 are living with severe aortic stenosis, a progressive condition that can significantly affect quality of life and survival if left untreated. Through a focus on timely diagnosis, evidence-based treatment and coordinated multidisciplinary care, the UCLA cardiology team is helping ensure patients with aortic stenosis receive the specialized care they need.
“Special thanks to our wonderful nurse practitioners (NP), Maria Gultom, Jeanne Huchting, Jill Polina, Renee Martinez and all involved in the success of this program and of course the leadership at UCLA who has made this possible. It does take a village, and this team always shows up,” states Olkay Aksoy, associate director of Aortic Valve Therapies.
This recognition highlights the division's expertise across the full spectrum of cardiovascular care, from acute cardiac emergencies and heart failure management to structural heart disease and advanced valve therapies. Congratulations cardiology division! Please join us in congratulating the many cardiology faculty and staff LEADERS whose contributions helped earn these national achievements.
A Special Honor for the DoM’s Palliative Care Team
DoM’s Palliative Care Program was recently recognized at Dodger Stadium, where team members participated in pregame ceremonies that included Nurse Practitioner Breanne Grazer throwing the ceremonial first pitch and the palliative care team delivering the classic call, “It’s time for Dodger baseball!”
This recognition, made possible through the Kyle Tucker Foundation’s KTF Heroes Program, highlighted the essential role our palliative care team plays in helping our patients navigate some of life’s most challenging moments with expert care, compassion, dignity and connection.
“It was an honor to have our team and our specialty in the spotlight at Dodger Stadium. Palliative care is not often the focus of this kind of recognition, so it was especially meaningful,” said Emily Martin, MD, medical director of UCLA Health Palliative Care.
Congratulations to the palliative care team on this well-deserved recognition. We are grateful for the exceptional care that you provide to our patients and their families every day.
I would also like to note that when the palliative care team stepped on to the field, it also accomplished something else: adding a few more names to the DoM’s bullpen of ceremonial first pitch throwers which includes Catherine Sarkissian MD, John Glaspy, MD, myself and many more!
Dale
P.S.
No matter where you run or hike, there will always be art.
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