Adverse health event prevention awards program reaches three years old

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Nineteen Minnesota hospitals won a total of 21 awards in the three-year-old Minnesota Hospital Association Patient Safety Excellence Awards program.

The initiative recognizes organizations’ efforts to prevent pressure ulcers, or bedsores; falls; wrong-site surgical or other invasive procedures; and foreign objects unintentionally left behind during labor and delivery. Awards are bestowed quarterly, and hospitals must re-qualify each round.

The association’s safety campaigns— SAFE SKIN, SAFE from FALLS, SAFE SITE, SAFE COUNT and SAFE ACCOUNT — are based on national and state best practices. They also incorporate lessons learned from participating 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 are at risk for developing pressure ulcers.

To learn more, visit MHA’s website at www.mnhospitals.org/index/patient1.

The Minnesota Hospital Association represents Minnesota’s hospitals and health systems.