Home > Quality Care > Patient Safety Email | Print | A A A
Find a Physician
Patients and Visitors
Donate to Foundation
Quality Care Commitment to Quality Patient Safety Improvement Priority Core Measures Healthcare Quality Q&A Special Certifications Resources Definitions Hospital Compare Awards & Recognitions

Quality Report


Infection Control
Surgery
Pneumonia
Heart Failure
Heart Attack
Perinatal Safety
Falls
Pressure Ulcers
Data Validity

Patient Satisfaction

Patient Safety

In the Patient Safety section, we respond to national "safe practice" recommended by the National Quality forum as a way of improving patient safety. Unlike the other sections, this section does not display numeric data. For each recommendation, we give a written response and a self-rating demonstrating whether we are meeting the goals, have policies in place to reach the goals or currently striving to achieve full compliance in this category. None of these safe practices are new to Saint Thomas Health Services, but we give ourselves credit for progress only if we have formal policies and practices in place.

 
Meets recommendations
 
In progress
Safe Practice
Self-
Assessment
Create a healthcare culture of safety. (NQF Safe Practice 1) "A culture that overtly encourages and supports the reporting of any situation or circumstance that threatens, or potentially threatens the safety of patients or caregivers and that views the occurrence of errors and adverse events as opportunities to make the healthcare system better"
 
For designated high-risk, elective surgical procedures or other specified care, patients should be clearly informed of the likely reduced risk of an adverse outcome at treatment facilities that have demonstrated superior outcomes and should be referred to such facilities in accordance with the patient's stated preference. (NQF Safe Practice 2)
 
Specify an explicit protocol to be used to ensure an adequate level of nursing based on the institution's usual patient mix and the experience and training of its nursing staff. (NQF Safe Practice 3)
 
All patients in general intensive care units (both adult and pediactric) should be managed by physicians having specific training and certification in critical care medicine ("critical care certified"). (NQF Safe Practice 4)
 
Pharmacists should actively participate in the medication-use process, including at minimum, being available for consultation with prescribers on medication ordering, interpretation and review of medication orders, preparation of medications, dispensing of medications, and administration and monitoring of medications. (NQF Safe Practice 5)
 
Verbal orders should be recorded whenever possible and immediately read back to the prescriber - i.e., a healthcare provider receiving a verbal order should read or repeat back the information that the prescriber conveys in order to verify the accuracy of what was heard. (NQF Safe Practice 6)
 
Use only standardized abbreviations and dose designations. (NQF Safe Practice 7)
 
Patient care summaries or other similar records should not be prepared from memory. (NQF Safe Practice 8)
 
Ensure that care information, especially changes in orders and new diagnostic information, is transmitted in a timely and clearly understandable form to all of the patient's current healthcare providers who need that information to provide care. (NQF Safe Practice 9)
 
Ask each patient or legal surrogate to recount what he or she has been told during the informed consent discussion. (NQF Safe Practice 10)
 
Ensure that written documentation of the patient's preference for life-sustaining treatments is prominently displayed in his or her chart. (NQF Safe Practice 11)
 
Implement a computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE) system. (NQF Safe Practice 12)
 
Implement a standardized protocol to prevent the mislabeling of radiographs. (NQF Safe Practice 13)
 
Implement standardized protocols to prevent the occurance of wrong-site procedures or wrong-patient procedures. (NQF Safe Practice 14)
 
Evaluate each patient undergoing elective surgery for risk of an acute ischemic cardiac event during surgery, and provide prophylactic treatment of high-risk patients with beta blockers. (NQF Safe Practice 15)
 
Evaluate each patient upon admission, and regularly thereafter, for the risk of developing pressure ulcers. This evaluation should be repeated at regular intervals during care. Clinically appropriate preventative methods should be implemented consequent to the evaluation. (NQF Safe Practice 16)
 
Evaluate each patient upon admission, and regularly thereafter, for the risk of developing deep vein thrombosis (DVT)/venous thromboembolism (VTE). Utilize clinically appropriate methods to prevent DVT/VTE. (NQF Safe Practice 17)
 
Utilize dedicated anti-thrombotic (anti-coagulation) services that facilitate coordinated care management. (NQF Safe Practice 19)
 
Adhere to effective methods of preventing central venous catheter-associated blood stream infections. (NQF Safe Practice 20)
 
Evaluate each pre-operative patient in light of his or her planned surgical procedure for the risk of surgical site infection, and implement appropriate antibiotic prophylaxis and other preventative measures based on that evaluation. (NQF Safe Practice 21)