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"St. Mary's achievement in the Get With The Guidelines program demonstrates a high level of commitment to quality care," said Mary Robichaux, AHA Vice President for Quality Improvement Initiatives in presentating the award to St. Mary's on Sept. 30. "It takes a concerted effort by everyone in the facility to make this kind of progress." Hospitals receiving the Get With The Guidelines Silver Performance Achievement Award have demonstrated a dedication to treating stroke patients by achieving 85 percent or higher compliance with core standard levels of care as outlined by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for 12 consecutive months. Get With The Guidelines puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for more than 2,000 hospitals nationwide, Robichaux said, with about 800 meeting criteria for the GWTG Silver Performance Award. St. Mary's is one of 11 hospitals in Georgia meeting the Silver Award standard, she noted. The program helps hospital care teams ensure that the care provided to patients with coronary artery disease, heart failure and stroke is aligned with the latest evidence-based guidelines. "The goal of participating in Get With The Guidelines is to save lives," said Cammie Llewallyn, RN, Director of St. Mary's Neuroscience Unit and Neuroscience Critical Care Unit. "Stroke is a serious condition -- it's the number one cause of disability and the number three cause of death in our country -- but we can do more than ever before to help people prevent, survive and recover from stroke." According to AHA, most hospitals that implement Get With The Guidelines realize measurable results, including improved patient outcomes and fewer recurring events. "It's a difference that shows in the lives of patients and their families, in the satisfaction felt by caregivers empowered to do their best, and in the financial health of participating hospitals," AHA says of the Get With the Guidelines program. St. Mary's is nationally recognized as a Neuroscience Center of Excellence and has been continuously certified by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations as a Certified Primary Stroke Center since 2004. St. Mary's continuum of stroke care includes:
St. Mary's also provides the region's only neurohospitalist program, providing hospital-based physicians specializing in the care of patients with stroke and other neurological conditions. For more information, visit St. Mary's website at www.stmarysathens.org or call 706.389.3700.
St. Mary's wins stroke award "With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the GWTG–Stroke Bronze Performance Achievement Award addresses the important element of time," said Cammie Llewallyn, RN, CNRN, St. Mary's Director of Neurosciences. To receive the GWTG–Stroke Bronze Performance Achievement Award, St. Mary's consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the GWTG–Stroke program for 90 days. These guidelines include aggressive use of medications like tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs, and smoking cessation. The 90-day evaluation period is the first in an ongoing self-evaluation by the hospital to continually reach the 85 percent compliance level needed to sustain this award. "The American Stroke Association commends St. Mary's for its success in implementing standards of care and protocols," said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national Get With The Guidelines steering committee member and director of the acute stroke services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "The full implementation of acute care and secondary prevention recommendations and guidelines is a critical step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of stroke patients."
St. Mary's named to quality honor roll St. Mary's is one of 23 hospitals in Georgia to achieve this recognition. The quality honor roll is based on clinical data provided by the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), which administers the nation's Medicare and Medicaid programs. The data was collected from October 2006 to September 2007. The CMS data details how well a hospital's caregivers adhere to a list of 10 Appropriate Care Measures (ACM), which are the clinical processes of care that are known to be the most effective methods of treatment for patients who have suffered heart attacks, heart failure or pneumonia. "It is our mission to ensure that each of our patients receives the right care at the right time and this recognition validates this," said St. Mary's President and CEO Tom Fitz, FACHE. "This honor is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of our staff, who are constantly working to make excellent care even better."
St. Mary's chef wins silver in Battle of the Hospital Chefs Abbott was one of three finalists in the competition, which was created to demonstrate that hospital food today tastes better and is more nutritious than in years past. From a field of more than 200 chefs nationwide, the finalists were chosen based on creative menus that are heart-healthy, great-tasting and easily created in a hospital kitchen for under $4.95 per plate. At St. Mary's, patients order meals from a menu that includes choices such as oven roasted turkey, oriental stir fry, ziti with a choice of sauces, pizza, sandwiches, salads, vegetarian options, children's favorites, side items such as steamed vegetables, as well as desserts and a special of the day. Also, patients choose when they will get their meals: they simply call St. Mary's food service number anytime between 6 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and room service delivers their meal in about 45 minutes. Gourmet selections such as steak and lobster and guest meals are available.
St. Mary's one of nation's first certified heart failure centers The Heart Failure Program at St. Mary's recently was awarded the Gold Seal of Approval™ for health care quality by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the nation's leading organization for the accreditation of health care providers. "This certification means St. Mary's does the right things and does them well for heart failure patients," says Jean E. Range, M.S., R.N., C.P.H.Q., executive director, Disease-Specific Care Certification, Joint Commission.
In addition, St. Mary's helps patients address the causes of heart failure through diabetes education, nutritional consultations and fitness programs at its Wellness Center.
Hospice Nurse Steinborn named a Georgia Hospital Hero "As a faith-based system, we believe things happen for a reason," said Karen Joyce, RN, Director of Home Health Care/Hospice Services. "Mike was the right person in the right place at the right time to help this man and his family. A less experienced responder might not have been able to cope with such a stressful and prolonged crisis. Mike's skill, compassion, professionalism, self-sacrifice, and coolness under pressure demonstrate that he is, truly, one of Georgia's Hospital Heroes!"
St. Mary's named a "TopCARE Hospital" "This study was undertaken to identify Georgia hospitals who exemplify the art of quality in healthcare delivery," GHA states, adding that the award recognizes hospitals that "have consistently shown high performance in healthcare processes, outcomes and patient safety."
Neuroscience Center of Excellence The 2006 survey, the only one of its kind in the neurosciences, analyzed 150 neuroscience programs across 41 states. Only 42 of the programs evaluated achieved sufficient scores to be recognized as a 2006 Neuroscience Center of Excellence. In Georgia, only St. Mary's and the Medical College of Georgia Health System achieved this recognition.
Center for Rehab Medicine awarded CARF accreditation CARF also awarded St. Mary's CRM accreditation as a stroke specialty program.
The Alliance recognized the hospital’s numerous healthcare initiatives and participation in community programs designed to improve the quality of life for residents in the Athens area. In the past year, St. Mary’s offered numerous wellness outreach and educational forums around stroke prevention and has built and dedicated the region’s first inpatient Hospice House. Recently, the hospital received approval on its certificate-of-need application to build a new cardiac cath/electrophysiology laboratory. St. Mary’s also increased its participation in community service. Hospital president and CEO, Tom Fitz, is chairman of the regional United Way campaign and board member, Judge Steve C. Jones, is chairman of Partners for a Prosperous Athens, a community partnership designed to identify and address the causes of poverty in the area. “The Alliance is pleased to honor St. Mary’s as it celebrates 100 years of service to the Athens community,” said Monty M. Veazey, president of the Alliance. “St. Mary’s truly exemplifies the mission of Georgia’s not-for-profit hospitals and the hospital’s administration, staff, and physicians are all well deserving of this honor.” “With so many excellent hospitals in this state, being selected as the Large Hospital of the Year is truly a great honor,” said St. Mary’s President and CEO Tom Fitz. “I am very proud of St. Mary’s employees, board members and physicians and their relentless focus on excellence. We are committed to continuing to raise the bar in terms of quality health care for our region.”
St. Mary’s rated best in state in hospital quality index St. Mary's score of 100 was established by the Georgia Partnership for Health and Accountability, a division of the Georgia Hospital Association. St. Mary's score, which is more than 9 points above the state average, reflects how well St. Mary’s measures up in several key patient care areas such as heart attack care and medication safety. The scoring system is part of PHA’s Hospital Relative Quality Index, designed to help hospitals evaluate how well they comply with best practices in the health care industry for patient treatment and safety. PHA reports that for 2005, the average score for about 190 participating Georgia hospitals was 90.4.
This year’s accreditation came under JCAHO’s Shared Vision-New Pathways survey method. JCAHO describes Shared Pathways as “an entirely new approach to evaluating quality and safety in your organization. It is truly an audit of the actual delivery of critical services and not a review of policies.” JCAHO goes on to say: “Shared Visions-New Pathways shifts the view of accreditation. It’s no longer a snapshot. It is a feature-length film, providing panoramic insight into your organization’s daily operations and systems.” “This new survey method provides true validation of St. Mary’s continuous improvement efforts,” says Jeff Frehse, Director of Risk Management and Quality Improvement. “The tracer methodology provides a valid, independent confirmation of St. Mary’s commitment to delivering safe, high-quality care all the time, not just at survey time.” St. Mary’s has been continuously accredited by the Joint Commission since 1954, just a few years after the Joint Commission was created. Submitting to the accreditation process is voluntary and reflects a hospital’s dedication to meeting the highest standards of patient care.
Home Health Care Services achieves 100 percent in overall quality “We are shifting the culture from mainly focusing on regulation and accreditation to giving safe, high-quality care,” says Karen Joyce, St. Mary’s Home Health Care/Hospice Director. “Over the last three to four years, home health care has been intensely focusing on patient outcomes,” says Linda Laing, Coordinator of Performance Improvement for St. Mary’s HHC services. She attributes the perfect satisfaction score to high standards, a focus on patient outcomes and highly trained staff. “We have a team of rehab, nursing professionals and home health aides who are dedicated to providing the very best quality care,” Laing says.
St. Mary’s nurse named Hospital Hero by GHA Margie was honored for helping to save the life of a young woman who boarded a three-hour flight despite a broken glucose pump and symptoms of hyperglycemia. “At 38,000 feet, hours from a hospital, with minimal equipment and cramped working conditions, Margie helped save a young woman’s life,” said Linda Bigelow, Ph.D., RN, Vice President Nursing Service. “We’re thrilled she has been recognized by the Georgia Hospital Association as one of only ten Hospital Heroes in 2005.”
Family Birth Center staff honored by ADVANCE for Nurses “Nurses work hard for their patients, their facility and their coworkers. By celebrating the nursing teams who read our magazines, we aim to do our part in honoring the everyday heroes who keep our nation healthy and safe,” said Linda Jones, editorial director of ADVANCE for Nurses. “We stand behind our mission to recognize their diligence and commitment to providing the best possible care.” Dozens of nursing teams from across the Southeastern states submitted entry forms and essays to the contest. A panel of judges evaluated the entries by awarding scores on each of the following categories: awards/recognition, initiative, adaptability, teamwork, “above and beyond,” recruitment/retention and knowledge. St. Mary’s Family Birth Center received a framed certificate and other gifts to commemorate the honor.
Also noted by judges was the hospital’s $40 million expansion and modernization project, which includes a family birth center, neonatal ICU, a women’s imaging center, an updated MRI suite and the expansion of several existing departments and services.
St. Mary’s certified as one of nation’s first 20 Stroke Centers Joint Commission experts surveyed St. Mary’s and found the stroke program demonstrates a high level of excellence. As a result, the Joint Commission has awarded St. Mary’s its Gold Seal of Approval™ and Disease-Specific Care Certification for stroke. Reviewers from the Joint Commission evaluated St. Mary’s continuum of care for stroke patients to assess St. Mary’s compliance with the Joint Commission’s national standards and performance measurement expectations for the management of chronic care illnesses. “We voluntarily pursued this comprehensive, independent evaluation to enhance the safety and quality of care we provide,” says Thomas E. Fitz, Jr., FACHE, President and CEO of St. Mary’s. “We’re very proud to achieve this distinction.” “Being certified as a disease-specific primary stroke care center is truly a great accomplishment for St. Mary’s and our community,” says McCord Smith, M.D., a neurologist with Athens Neurological Associates and a long-time member of St. Mary’s medical staff. “It demonstrates that patients suffering stroke in our area will receive treatment second to none in the nation.
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St. Mary’s named ‘2006 Large Hospital of the Year’
Georgia Health System in Albany won the top honor in the large hospital category (151 beds or more).
