March 09, 2010
National Patient Safety Awareness Week
By Jean Hunhoff, Corporate Compliance Quality Officer, Avera Sacred Heart Hospital
National Patient Safety Awareness Week is being celebrated March 7-13. This is a national education and awareness-building campaign for improving patient safety at the local level. Patient Safety and Quality of Care are synonymous at Avera Sacred Heart Hospital.
As a Joint Commission Accredited Facility Avera Sacred Heart Hospital has for the past 30 plus years strived to promote the highest level of care driven by patient safety in all aspects. Everyone has a role in making health care safe. This includes doctors, health care executives, nurses and the many health care technicians. ASHH recognizes that patients have an active role in making their care safer by being active, involved and an informed member of their health care team.
Patients need to speak up if they have questions or concerns. Asking questions for understanding and clarity helps the patient in their participation and decision making process involving what happens to his/her body. Be attentive to the care you receive. Always make sure you are getting the right treatments and medicines by the right health care professionals. Educate yourself about your illness. Learn about the medical tests you get, and your treatment plan. Ask a trusted family member or friend to be your advocate. Know what medicine you take and why you take them.
Medicine errors are the most common health care mistakes. You should use a hospital, clinic, surgery center or other type of health care organization that has been carefully reviewed. For example, the Joint Commission provides a review of the visits they conduct at hospitals and the outcomes of their evaluation.
CMS has become an active player in quality and patient safety in that a hospital's performance on selected clinical outcomes determines the reimbursement to the facility. Comparisons of hospitals clinical outcomes can be used as a tool to assess the quality of care provided.
Joint Commission has, over the course of the years, identified certain negative clinical outcomes that - if they occur - require extensive review and improvement strategies to prevent from ever reoccurring. CMS has moved into the same direction that certain events should never occur at a hospital and as a result will not be reimbursed by Medicare. The events are labeled "never events." Hospitals stand to lose accreditation and reimbursement for events of this nature.
ASHH continues to excel in the field of the CMS quality initiatives with results in positive patient safety efforts. The teamwork of patient and health care providers has resulted in successful patient outcomes that have been recognized nationally, infection control rates among the lowest in the nation, fall rates below the national norms, medication error rate at the lowest national levels and employee daily performance of patient safety practices. Together, the patient and health care team will ensure the most positive outcome for our patients.
