Vim & Vigor - Summer 2009 - (Page 49)

5 O million lives keeping you safe go To learn more about the 5 Million Lives Campaign, visit ihi.org. To get specific data on hospital quality, go to hospitalcompare.hhs.gov. new program helps hospitals improve patient safety ver the past two years, hospitals nationwide—including the three Centura Health hospitals in Southern Colorado—have banded together to implement programs to increase safety and quality for patients inside their facilities. Their goal: to protect patients from 5 million incidents of medical harm across the country. When patients come into hospitals, they come to get better— not worse. Yet, just being in a hospital poses unique circumstances that put patients at risk of harm. Hospital patients, for instance, are at increased risk for acquiring infections, experiencing adverse drug events or developing pressure sores. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) estimates that nearly 15 million instances of medical harm occur every year in the United States. Those incidents vary widely, from a patient who is given a prescription drug an hour late but has no adverse effects to patients who acquire lifethreatening infections. a marked improvement The IHI, which developed the 5 Million Lives Campaign, has identified 12 areas of hospital care that pose the greatest risk to patients. Procedures to reduce common risks are helping hospitals reduce errors and negative consequences in those areas. St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center in Pueblo, a Centura Health hospital that is participating in the program, has implemented the recommended procedures in all 12 areas. One area where the hospital has seen improvement is in the number of central line infections, says Della Abeyta, R.N., MSN, director of quality for the hospital. Central lines are catheters that are inserted into patients so they can receive infusions of medicine, nutrition or hydration or have blood drawn. Central line infections can lead to Patients and their families can help improve safety and quality in prolonged hospitalization and increased cost. After inihospitals simply by speaking up, hospital experts say. tiating the recommended procedures, St. Mary-Corwin “Patient safety is a team effort between the caregivers, the went from around three a month to zero, Abeyta says. what you can do patient and the family,” says Kelli Saucerman, R.N., MSN, director of clinical effectiveness for Penrose-St. Francis Health Services. Specific steps patients or their families should take include: • Wash your hands every time you enter a patient’s room, and request the same of every visitor—including hospital employees and physicians. • Bring an up-to-date medication record to the hospital. • Alert a nurse if the patient “just doesn’t look right.” Often, family members can detect changes in a loved one’s condition before the professionals. electronic medical record St. Mary-Corwin, along with St. Thomas More Hospital in Cañon City and Penrose-St. Francis Health Services in Colorado Springs, are using a new electronic medical record to help reduce incidents of harm. The EMR reminds nurses and caregivers to take precautionary steps to prevent common problems, such as pressure ulcers, says Pam Galkowski, R.N., director of quality assurance at St. Thomas More. “I see our nurses paying a lot more attention to making sure that they are doing everything they can to reduce risks of harm,” Galkowski says. vim & vigor · s ummer 2009 49 http://www.ihi.org http://hospitalcompare.hhs.gov

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Summer 2009

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2009
Healthy Steps
Nurturing Health
Contents
Finally... Relief from Pain
Helping Hearts
Take Action
Check Your Tech
Small Wonders
Positively Healthy
On the Cover
Culinary Cures
In a Heartbeat
Make it Last
Safe Harbor
5 Million Lives
Under the Cyberknife
Around the Region
Ask the Experts
Community Connections

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2009

https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2009summer-ss
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2009spring-ss
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2008winter-ss
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/vimvigor_2008fall-ss
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com