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Patient safety remains our highest
priority and St. Mary is a leader in adapting evidence-based practices proven to
reduce the rate of infection. We are very proud of our ongoing
proactive efforts to reduce the incidence of hospital acquired
infections.
In addition to ongoing hand-washing education, St.
Mary has effectively implemented safety programs that have significantly reduced urinary
tract, central-line, surgical-site and ventilator-associated pneumonia infections.
We remain fully committed to providing a culture of quality and
safety for all patients and in adopting best practices in new and improved ways
to prevent infection, including
St. Mary is a participant in the Institute for
Healthcare Improvment's “100,000 Lives Campaign,” a voluntary reporting
iniative to identify and implement best practice policies demonstrated to
reduce rates of infection.
St.
Mary uses quality standards recommended through the American Hospital Association’s “Surgical
Care Improvement Project” (SCIP) and began reporting the
incidence of surgical site infection in January 2007 in
accordance with the new CMS requirement.
St. Mary also participates in
"Partnership for Patient Care,” a program in partnership with the Delaware
Valley Healthcare Council and Healthcare Improvement Foundation which
specifically addresses the issue of hospital-acquired infections. demonstrates
the commitment of our region’s hospitals to take on this challenge. The
“Partnership for Patient Care” is expected to become a national model and and
demonstrates our region’s collective commitment to patient safety. “Partnership
for Patient Care” recommends specific evidenced-based interventions designed to
reduce rates of infection including the steps patients and their loved ones may
take to reduce infection since they, too, are part of the healthcare “team.”
The Partnership for Patient Care has already made good progress in the area
of infection control. Last December, the group reported positive results from a
year-long patient safety initiative that studied ways to improve processes that
would reduce infections in hospital patients in several areas, including the
insertion of central catheter lines and the use of antibiotics before surgery.
As hospitals take steps to prevent infection, we must
also deal with the modern challenges of antibiotic drug-resistance sources of
infection. Despite this challenge, we are working hard to identify,
control, and ultimately eliminate hospital-acquired
infections.
According to the CDC, the single most important thing a person can
do to keep from getting sick and spreading illness to others, protect patient
safety, and reduce infection, is to keep hands clean by thorough hand
washing. Furthermore, “Improved Hand Hygiene to Prevent Health Care
Associated Infections” is among the Patient Safety Solutions for 2007 promoted
by the Joint Commission, Joint Commission International, and World Health
Organization as important global healthcare safety challenges.
St. Mary Medical Center recently launched “Let’s See a Show of
Hands – Everyone has a Hand in Patient Safety,” a distinctive quality and
patient-safety education program. The aggressive program reinforces awareness in
promoting proper hand-washing techniques to prevent the spread of
hospital-acquired infections.
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