Adventist Health/rideout wins quality award for improved patient care
Adventist Health/rideout was awarded the 2019 Quality Award at the Adventist Health Clinical Summit Monday. The facility was recognized, out of the 20 hospitals in the network, for improvements the hospital has put in place to improve patient care.
Rick Rawson, president of Adventist Health/rideout said the hospital has made significant improvements in patient safety, which he credits to the collaboration of hospital staff from physicians to nurses.
“I’m just blessed to have a team of people so committed to our patients,” Rawson said. “They’ll stop at nothing to improve the help for our patients.”
Rawson said one of the largest improvements the hospital has made is with patient safety events,
which are issues the hospital tracks ranging from infections to complications from surgery. There was a stretch from September to October, Rawson said, when there wasn’t a patient safety event for 54 days.
“There’s a lot we can do to avoid those things and that directly impacts the quality of care that patients have,” Rawson said. “I think that acrossthe-board improvement is what the corporation noticed and why we received the recognition.”
Improvements like programs so the hospital stays connected to patients after discharge, making sure people take their medications and supporting skilled nursing facilities have all contributed to improving patient safety and the quality of clinical care.
He said the hospital’s goal to be ranked nationally in the top ten hospitals for overall performance would have been “outrageous” a few years ago, but isn’t so outlandish anymore.
“It’s a journey you always have to improve, and we have a team that’s really focused on that,” Rawson said.