St. Luke's Doctor Wins Patient Safety Award for Work in Acute Kidney Injury

The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority has named Robert Gayner, MD, Chief of Nephrology for St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN), a winner of its 2019 “I Am Patient Safety” Award for his work to reduce the incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) throughout the network.

Robert Gayner, MD

The award recognizes Pennsylvania healthcare workers who exhibit outstanding dedication to patient safety. Dr. Gayner was one of 10 individuals and teams that were selected from more than 150 submissions representing 65 healthcare facilities across Pennsylvania.

“It is an honor to receive this award, but it truly is a team accomplishment,” Dr. Gayner says. “The outstanding multidisciplinary team that has worked on this initiative has allowed the physicians at St. Luke’s University Health Network to improve the quality of care that we provide to our patients. Being a part of that team is certainly special.”

Under Dr. Gayner’s leadership, the team developed and implemented a set of best practice standards to mitigate the risk of AKI, and educated caregivers throughout the network about diagnosing AKI. This initiative has resulted in a 37 percent reduction of AKI events across SLUHN hospitals that has decreased patient mortality and improved appropriate diagnosis, treatment and ongoing management of this patient population.

Dr. Gayner and the other “I Am Patient Safety” Award winners will be celebrated during Patient Safety Awareness Week, from March 10–16, 2019. They will receive a certificate of recognition, a token of appreciation, and mentions in the March 2019 Pennsylvania Patient Safety Advisory and in the Authority’s 2018 Annual Report. The Authority will also provide winners with free registration to and recognize them during its second annual Pennsylvania Patient Safety Summit.

A board certified internist and nephrologist, Dr. Gayner is the Vice President of Medical Affairs at St. Luke's University Hospital–Bethlehem and Chief of Nephrology for the St. Luke’s Health Network. In addition, he serves on the Medical Executive Committee and as a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Temple University's School of Medicine.

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 15,000 employees providing services at 10 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service area includes 10 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe and Schuylkill counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.  Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.  In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first and only regional medical school campus.  It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 28 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 226 residents and fellows.  St. Luke’s is the only health care system in central-eastern Pennsylvania to earn Medicare’s five-star rating (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.  In 2018, St. Luke’s was named a Top Hospital in the Teaching Hospital category by the Leapfrog Group.  It has repeatedly earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health (formerly Truven Health Analytics) – six times total and four years in a row including 2018.  It has also been cited by IBM Watson Health as a 50 Top Cardiovascular Program.  Utilizing the EPIC electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.  St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.