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Quality & Safety MattersQuality and Safety Matters
It may sound like a cliche, but it is also true. Health care attracts people who care about people. The staff at Central Vermont Medical Center are committed to providing patients with care that is compassionate, safe and of the highest possible quality. We strive every day to give our best to the patients we are here to serve.
What is Quality Health Care?
There are two ways to measure quality in health care. The first way is by health care regulators who score a hospital “performance” based on objectively measuring health care outcomes.* As a member of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Alliance, it is the Goal at CVMC to score 100% on all measures. You can see a complete set of scores for our performance in three areas: heart attack care, pneumonia care, and congestive heart failure by clicking here.
The other way to measure quality is in the eyes and experience of the patients and their families. At CVMC, we strive to earn high marks by both measures. It is our goal to provide health care that is: - Effective,
- Patient-centered,
- Safe,
- Timely,
- Efficient,
- and Equitable (fair)
Continuous Quality Improvement
In addition to working to satisfy state, federal and local requirements, CVMC has launched a number of initiatives designed to help us continue to improve the quality of our care and services. We call these our Performance Improvement (PI) Initiatives. These include but are not limited to:
- Improving Medication Management
- Improving Patient Flow
- Implementing "Rapid Response Teams"
To view the 2007 National Patient Safety Goals, Click Here.
Improving Medication Management
The use of technology in health care is growing everyday. CVMC is using technology to help us keep track of patient medications. Studies have shown that by replacing 'hand-writing' tasks, such as writing medication orders with computer note-taking that medication errors go down. At CVMC, we are committed to implementing a Computer Physician Order Entry (CPOE) system. We also focus having a complete and accurate list of what patients take for medication and to update this information when a patient comes to the Emergency Department, is admitted, or transferred to a different treatment location. This initiative works hand-in-hand with our Medication Safety initiative described below.
Improving Patient Flow
Central Vermont Medical Center, along with all Vermont Hospitals, is a member of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), a healthcare organization that is making great strides in improving healthcare delivery, not only in the United States, but across the globe. IHI sponsors several projects for hospitals to participate in, learn from and share with others. One of these, "Improving Patient Flow" has as its goal the streamlining of a patients' care; such as in the Emergency Department and/or in the hospital admission process. Hand-in-hand with the project is focusing on patient satisfaction. CVMC's goal is that patient experiences "The Right Care at the Right Time with the Right Outcome".
Rapid Response Teams
Rapid Response teams are trained to assess a patient who might be getting sicker by the moment. The goal is to keep the situation from turning into a full emergency - or "Code." These teams are made up of a respiratory therapist, an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurse and a physician. Research has shown that having these teams does contribute to saving lives.
What is Safety in Health Care?
CVMC supports the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) mission to assure the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health. Learn more about the Occupational Health Services CVMC offers within our community.
Within the Medical Center, the safety of our patients is also a top priority. We are actively developing programs to meet or exceed the National Safety Patient Goals. These include:
- Improve accuracy of identifying patients
- We are using at least two means of identifying the correct patient when giving or taking medications, blood samples, clinical tests and other treatments and procedures
- Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers
- To ensure that what is heard is understood, we require that the person being given a medical order or critical test results “reads back” the information to verify that it is accurate and complete
- We are making the list of abbreviations, acronyms, symbols and verbal shortcuts uniform across the organization
- We are working to make sure that critical test information is shared in a timely manner
- We are working to make sure that when information is “handed off” there is the opportunity for questions/answers between staff
- Improve the safety of using medications
- We are standardizing and limiting the number of drugs available within our organization
- We annually identify and review a list of look-alike/sound alike drugs and take action to prevent errors in interchanging these
- Reduce the risk of hospital acquired infections
- We comply with current guidelines from the Center for Disease Control on hand washing and hygiene
- Accurately and continually monitor and reconcile patients' medications
- We are implementing a process for documenting, with the patient's help, a complete list of current medications upon admission. We will compare the medication on the list with those in use at CVMC
- When a patient is referred or transferred to another setting, service, practitioner or level of care within or outside the organization, we will share a complete list of the patient's medications with the next provider of service
- Reduce the risk of patient harm from falls.
- We have implemented a fall reduction program and will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.
* In 2003, the state of Vermont passed legislation called Act 53. This law requires every Vermont hospital to document and publish its performance on a number of quality, safety and financial measures. To learn more, click here.
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