ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota hospitals are working to improve the quality and safety of the care they deliver — and share meaningful information about that care with the public. To recognize hospital and health care systems’ successes, 21 Minnesota hospitals have been recognized by the Minnesota Hospital Association.

The Patient Safety Excellence Awards program recognizes hospital and health system  efforts to:

• Prevent pressure ulcers, (under the association’s SAFE SKIN campaign);
• Falls (under the SAFE from FALLS campaign);
• Wrong-site surgical or other invasive procedures (under the SAFE SITE campaign); and
• Foreign objects unintentionally left behind following surgery (under the SAFE ACCOUNT campaign) and during labor and delivery (under the SAFE COUNT campaign).

Awards are bestowed quarterly in the four-year-old program. Most Minnesota hospitals have already won some, if not all, of the five types of awards available. Hospitals must re-qualify forawards each round.

The association’s safety campaigns are based on national and state best practices. They also incorporate lessons learned from hospitals that experienced adverse health events.

Awardees must implement at least 90 percent of each campaign’s required measures. One such measure, for instance, requires hospitals to reposition immobile patients every two hours if such patients areat risk for developing pressure ulcers.

Patient Safety Excellence Award Winners

To learn more, visit MHA’s website. 

The Minnesota Hospital Association helps 145 hospitals and 17 health systems provide quality care for their patients and communities 24/7.