Minnesota Hospitals Win Patient Safety Awards

Twelve Hospitals Win Patient Safety Awards

Twelve Minnesota hospitals each won a Minnesota Hospital Association Patient Safety Excellence Award this month.

The initiative recognizes organizations' efforts to prevent pressure ulcers, (under the association's SAFE SKIN campaign); falls (under the SAFE from FALLS program); wrong-site surgical or other invasive procedures (under the SAFE SITE program); and foreign objects unintentionally left behind following surgery (under the SAFE ACCOUNT campaign) and during labor and delivery (under the SAFE COUNT initiative).

Awards are bestowed quarterly in the program that is more than three years old. Most Minnesota hospitals have already won some, if not all, of the five types of awards available. Hospitals must re-qualify for awards each round.

The association's safety campaigns are based on national and state best practices. They also incorporate lessons learned from hospitals that experienced adverse health events.

Awardees must implement at least 90 percent of each campaign's required measures. One such measure, for instance, requires hospitals to reposition immobile patients every two hours if such patients are at risk for developing pressure ulcers.

To learn more, visit MHA's Web site at www.mnhospitals.org.

To learn more about hospital patient safety programs please visit www.psqh.com.