Hospital staff displays quality-control programs

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January 5, 2009

CVPH departments share their own success stories

By JEFF MEYERS The Press Republican Fri May 14, 2010, 06:57 PM EDT

PLATTSBURGH — Health-care providers across the CVPH Medical Center campus gave themselves a pat on the back while displaying their dedication to the community during a recent poster presentation.

The Plattsburgh hospital held a Patient Services Presentation in its recently refurbished and reopened main lobby in which more than a dozen units from the hospital submitted work on what they have been doing to improve patient services.

By analyzing evidence-based practices (the techniques health-care providers use in treating patients based on past success rates), the medical staff can assess its own effectiveness and make adjustments where improvements are needed.

"It gives us an opportunity to share clinical information throughout the hospital," said Tara Ebere, a clinical practice coordinator from R-7 in the Medical Center's patient wings.

"There is a lot that the public doesn't know about what goes on to ensure quality care and to retain staff," she added. "The hospital does such good, quality work. It's not in just one area, but we all have to work together on projects and improvements."

CONSISTENCY
For instance, Ebere worked with a group whose goal was to develop initiatives on how staff members could work together as a team and improve their communication to offer a consistent quality of care between shift changes.

Prior to this initiative, staff would typically transfer written information on their patients between shifts. Now, staff members will meet as a team and verbally discuss patient care while touring the patient rooms they will be responsible for on that shift.

"It's working pretty well," Ebere said.

Ongoing evaluations, she added, are part of the process in verifying the success of any evidence-based practice.

In another area, the hospital's Infection Control staff has been collaborating with Housekeeping to reduce the rate of infection from C. difficile, one of the most common types of hospital-borne infections.

"By changing some of the environmental things we did, we've been able to decrease the incidence of C.difficile in our patients," said Nietta Rogers, infection-control coordinator for the hospital.

With an emphasis on isolating infected patients and ensuring that both staff and visitors wash hands regularly, the hospital has also cut down on infection rates by cleaning rooms of infected patients with bleach and water rather than disinfectants that are normally used.

The Medical Center's Intensive Care Unit has also analyzed a serious medical condition to improve patient outcomes.

"Ventilator-associated pneumonia is a leading cause of deaths in hospital patients with hospital-acquired infections," said Donna Brault, a registered nurse in ICU. "We've been following a number of national recommendations to decrease mortality."

SERIOUS APPROACH
Also known as hospital-acquired pneumonia, the condition can be serious because a patient's defense mechanisms against infection are often impaired during a hospital stay. It is more commonly found in patients who require a respirator to help them breathe.

Staff in ICU are following an eight-step procedure — utilizing such basic measures as elevating the head of a patient's bed daily, routine oral care and maintaining safe blood-sugar levels — to reduce the potential for infection.

"CVPH is above state-wide compliance levels," Brault said. "We're taking this issue seriously and are working hard to exceed compliance levels."

Reducing the risk of infection also helps control medical costs, she added. A typical patient will end up receiving $45,000 more in services to treat a hospital-borne infection.

Non-clinical areas also participated in the day-long presentation. Material Management provided information on how its staff has altered certain techniques to reduce spending.

Darlene Allen, a senior buyer for the hospital, showed how changes in the processing of vendor invoices helped to secure discounts for the products and save thousands of dollars in several areas.

Staff members involved in the presentation displayed their poster work with pride as visitors and hospital staff stopped by to see what has been going on deep within the corridors of CVPH.

E-mail Jeff Meyers at: jmeyers@pressrepublican.com