Minnesota Hospital Association

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Entries for January 2014

Hospitals making strong progress in preventing pressure ulcers

January 2014
Pressure ulcers are one of the most reported adverse health events. The injuries they cause to skin and underlying tissue are painful and can lead to infection or other complication for patients. The adverse health event reporting system has helped identify previously unknown risks for pressure ulcers, and it appears hospitals are making solid progress in preventing pressure ulcers. In particular, in the 2012-13 reporting, Bethesda Hospital, part of HealthEast Care System in St. Paul; as well as Hennepin County Medical Center and the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, both in Minneapolis made significant progress in reducing the number of reportable pressure ulcers.

Communication, education help Fairview Southdale Hospital apply Time Out principles to regional nerve blocks

January 2014
In 2011, Fairview Southdale began participating in the statewide effort to expand safety practices, such as site marking and the Time Out process (a pause by the procedure team prior to the start of a procedure to ensure the correct patient is receiving the correct procedure at the correct site) outside of the operating room, which included applying the best practices for patients receiving regional nerve blocks. In early 2013, a plan was implemented to educate the anesthesiologists utilizing an SBAR approach. These efforts have helped Fairview Southdale achieve 360 days without a reportable wrong site regional nerve block.

Building a culture of safety in the operating room

January 2014
At the foundation of successful patient safety and quality improvement effort is a culture of patient safety within the hospital or surgical center. A strong safety culture can help minimize medical errors and strong support from leadership is crucial to truly moving the needle on patient safety and quality. Dr. Mark Migliori, chair of the perioperative safety committee at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, part of Allina Health, believes a culture of safety is a prerequisite for delivering good care for every patient, every procedure, every time.

Identifying anticoagulation therapy as a key patient risk factor helps hospitals tailor fall prevention efforts

January 2014
The Adverse Health Event reporting system has helped identify a specific population that is at a very high risk for injury if they sustain a fall. Due to increasing medical complexities in an aging population, falls resulting in serious injury or death continue to challenge hospitals and evidence shows falls are increasing across the community. In the past year it has been identified that 90 percent of fall deaths in Minnesota hospitals occur in patients who are either over age 85 or are on medications known as anticoagulants.

MHA Newsline

January 2014

MHA Newsline

January 2014