Award of Excellence Winners - Washington 2008 2008 Washington Award Recipients
The following organizations were honored with the Qualis Health 2008 Award of Excellence in Healthcare Quality in Washington state: Hillcrest Manor and Rehabilitation Center (Sunnyside)
The Effect of Staff Turnover and Absenteeism on Elder Care  After attending the Qualis Health Workshop in Spokane, WA entitled “Culture Change - implementing Staff Morale and Retention Programs” by David Farrell, we introduced consistent assignments to the day shift aides, who accepted the concept immediately.
Lead aides challenged the swing shift aides to try consistent assignment for one month. During that period the aides learned more about the likes, dislikes, and histories of the elders they were serving. They bonded with their elders and enthusiastically chose to continue consistent assignments. Within a very short time the nursing assistants took over their own scheduling based on elder’s health acuity and elder/staff preference. We monitored the success of the new program through our Quality Assurance Committee. Turnover dropped from 84% in 2006 to 59% in 2007. The national average is 71%. Absenteeism dropped 15% from 2006 to 2007. Pressure ulcers dropped 66% from 2006 to 2007, with many months having zero pressure ulcers. Other areas of concern such as falls, weight loss, and psychotropic medication also remained very low. To learn more about this project or organization, please contact:
Patsy Turner, NA-C
(509) 837-2122
hillcrestmds@hotmail.com Back to Top Lincoln Hospital (Davenport), Northwest MedStar (Spokane Valley), and Sacred Heart Medical Center (Spokane)
AMI Level 1 Cardiac Protocol  Our involvement in a national demonstration project for improving the quality of emergency care delivered by rural hospitals required the adoption and adaptation of national guidelines for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The #1 community health assessment conducted between the hospital district and the county public health department identified cardiac care as one of the leading causes of death and morbidity in the county.
The adaptation of the national guidelines was a key component of the study since critical access hospitals (CAHs) do not admit AMI patients, but transfer them to larger tertiary facilities. The national guidelines were adapted to reflect actual care provided to the patient during the emergency room stabilization and transfer process at the critical access hospital level. Partners Lincoln Hospital District #3, Sacred Health Medical Center, and Northwest MedStar worked to create better patient outcomes which resulted in a more quality level of care. To learn more about this project or organization, please contact:
Thomas Martin, Administrator, Lincoln Hospital
(509) 725-7101 ext. 126
martint@lhd3.org Back to Top Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories (PAML) (Spokane)
Driving Quality Through Implementation of Unique Middleware Solutions  By implementing customer relationship management (CRM), PAML has automated our medical laboratory client services process for every customer-facing employee—more than 900 in all—so that not only the client services staff but also employees in supply, billing, IT, logistics, dispatch, client retention, quality improvement, and lab testing can all see an up-to-date, complete history of a physician's or hospital’s contact with PAML. This has improved our response time and workflow, which in turn speeds the patient’s diagnosis and treatment.
We have also implemented our OA Mobility solution for over 150 laboratory couriers across our enterprise. They now carry a wireless handheld device that has built-in route management, stat-test dispatching, and in-field specimen tracking functionality. This has reduced missed pick-ups, lost specimens, and time to transport a specimen for STAT testing requests. To learn more about this project or organization, please contact:
Rosalee Allan, Chief Operations Officer
(509) 220-7851
rallan@paml.com Back to Top Providence Hospice and Home Care of Snohomish County (Everett)
Bereavement Counseling Intern Program  The Hospice Bereavement Counseling Intern Program began in September 2006. Since inception, the program has had an incredible impact on our department, the agency, our patients, and the county. We were able to increase telephone outreach support to our hospice families 410% from 2005.
The interns completed 3192 volunteer counseling hours to the bereavement department which equates to $63,840 in wages at the low-end pay level for bereavement specialists in our agency, by the end of 2007. If such services were to be billed as professional counseling services, the total value would be, conservatively estimated, over $98,000. With our trained interns as part of our staff, we reached our goal of providing phone outreach to one bereaved person on 100% of our patient deaths within 30 days. Additionally, we surpassed our goal, and have been able to provide outreach support to 100% of the identified family members on 100% of our patient deaths. We have also been able to increase our group support to hospice families as well as community members. We currently have seven types of specialty grief support groups that we offer throughout the year, approximately sixteen cycles, versus one general loss group that was offered for six cycles per year. These are community benefits that help many different generations and diverse groups of people. To learn more about this project or organization, please contact:
Cheryl Cline, Support Services Coordinator
(425) 261-4798
Cheryl.cline@providence.org Back to Top Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital (Spokane)
Eliminating Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) in the PICU  The pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital embarked on an interdisciplinary team of nurses, respiratory therapists, and physicians to implement strategies to reduce the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonias (VAP). These included: elimination of the use of saline prior to suctioning, elimination of routine suctioning, oral care standards revised for children with and without teeth, elevation of head of the bed, and other Institute for Healthcare Improvement bundle initiatives.
Through these interventions, the incidents of VAPs in the PICU were reduced from 12.2VAPs/1000 patient days in 2006 to zero in 2007. Not only did the PICU reduce VAPs to the CDC rate, but eliminated them totally within one year of implementation. This continues to be sustained through the first quarter of 2008. To learn more about this project or organization, please contact:
Susan Stacey, Nurse Manager, PICU
(509) 474-4650
staceys@shmc.org Back to Top Walla Walla General Hospital (Walla Walla)
Achieving Top Performance with Core Measures  Core Measures, also known as the National Hospital Quality measures (AMI, health failure, pneumonia, SCIO), were selected by our hospital for special quality improvement focus in 2007 since our compliance rate with several of the measures was below goal. Key interventions were implemented, and included the development of a concurrent chart review system, staff, and physician compliance “report cards,” specific performance improvement projects for the lowest-performing measures, integration of Core Measures into our electronic charting system, and activities to create physician awareness and buy-in.
Compliance rates steadily improved over the course of the year. For the fourth quarter of 2007, all measures achieved 100% compliance with one exception: achieving 99% compliance. To learn more about this project or organization, please contact:
Rhonda Clark, RN, Quality Management Nurse
(509) 527-8000 ext. 1102
ClarkRL@ah.org Back to Top 2008 Award Panel Each year, Qualis Health recognizes outstanding organizations for their innovative, measurable improvements in healthcare. Our thanks to the 2008 award panel for their time and care in reviewing applications: John Arveson Director, Professional Affairs, Washington State Medical Association Myron E. Bloom, MD, MMM Medical Director, Rural Healthcare Quality Network William Boyan, MD Associate Medical Director, Qualis Health Carolyn Edmonds Assistant WA State LTC Ombudsman, Washington State Long Term Care Ombudsman’s Office Nancy Fisher, MD Medical Director, Health Care Authority Jeanne Harmon Diabetes Prevention & Control Program, Washington State Department of Health Miriam Marcus Smith Program Director, Washington Patient Safety Coalition, Foundation for Health Care Quality Loy Maslen, RNC, MSN, NNP, IQCI, CPUM Care Management Clinical Nurse Specialist, Qualis Health Jeff Rochon, Pharm D Director of Professional Development, Washington State Pharmacy Association Lynn Tungseth Director of Quality, Providence Senior & Community Services Carol Wagner Vice President of Patient Safety, Washington State Hospital Association Back to Top | |
