Record shows BAMC’s commitment to quality

Re: “Tainted tools spark surgeons’ concern,” Front Page, Oct. 29:

First and foremost, Brooke Army Medical Center is proud of the role we serve in the San Antonio community. We consider it a tremendous privilege to care for the more than 250,000 military beneficiaries in Military City, USA.

As the sole Level I trauma center in the Department of Defense and one of only two in San Antonio, we take seriously our responsibility to our patients and value the tremendous trust our community has placed in us since our founding in 1938. The No. 1 goal of our organization is providing the highest quality of safe and effective health care to our patients.

As a medical center committed to the principles of highly reliable organizations, we recognize that no health care system achieves success 100% of the time. We do know, however, that by relentlessly focusing on process improvement, and by embedding multiple layers of safeguards within our system, we can minimize the potential risk to patients.

We encourage individuals and teams across our health system to speak up when they have a question or concern without fear of blame or retaliation. As we did this past summer when members of our staff raised concerns, we continuously and thoughtfully assess for opportunities to grow and improve as an organization. Our persistent focus on patient safety and process improvement ensures we are well-positioned to address any areas of concern.

As testament to our relentless commitment to quality and transparency, BAMC voluntarily seeks external, independent reviews by multiple nationally recognized health care quality organizations, including the Joint Commission, the American College of Surgeons and the College of American Pathologists.

These organizations assist us in adhering to the highest evidence-based standards of safety and have continually recognized the quality care provided by our medical center as evidenced by our continuous accreditation by the Joint Commission for the past 26 years, most recently in 2021, and by our reverification as a Level I trauma center by the American College of Surgeons in 2022. Just this past month, the American College of Surgeons identified BAMC as one of 46 out of 615 participating hospitals across the nation that earned commendation in multiple areas of surgical quality through the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program.

The military medical leadership at BAMC is proud of our long and successful partnership in the San Antonio community and remains committed to delivering the highest quality care to our patients each and every day.