Quality and Safety at Work
Also see: Quality Improvement Initiatives
Providing the highest quality, safest care means using the latest techniques and technology, as well as proven procedures. Click on the topic below to learn more about procedures and technology at Saint Raphael’s and how you can help protect patient safety.
- Patient identification
- Dispensing medication
- Hand hygiene
- Fall prevention
- Leading-edge technology
Patient identification
An ID bracelet is placed on the wrist of all Saint Raphael inpatients — as well as Short Term Surgery patients — at admission. The ID bracelet has the patient’s name and other appropriate information. Physicians, nurses and other care givers carefully check bracelets and charts before any treatment, procedures, tests (including blood tests), or administration of medication.
For surgeries and other invasive procedures, Saint Raphael’s has a universal protocol — a set of rules followed by all care providers. This protocol requires the caregiving team to ask patients to verify their identity, procedure and surgery or procedure site. The team also has a “time out” before surgery or the procedure begins to verify the same information.
How you can help:
- Be sure the information on your (or your loved one’s, if he/she is the patient) ID bracelet is correct.
- Notify Admitting staff and your physician or nurse of any allergies, other medical conditions or special circumstances. You will receive a supplemental bracelet with this information.
- If you do not receive a patient ID bracelet, or if your bracelet falls off or is damaged, please let your nurse know immediately.
- Before taking any medication or undergoing any test or procedure, it’s OK to ask your caregiver to check your ID bracelet.
Dispensing medication
Saint Raphael’s is one of only a handful of hospitals nationwide using an advanced computer system that allows physicians to order each patient’s medications electronically from the hospital pharmacy. Called Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE), the system automatically identifies medications that should not be given together and any patient medication allergies. It eliminates handwritten medication orders and speeds medication delivery. Saint Raphael’s continues to update this system as new technology becomes available. CPOE is identified as an important quality and safety indicator by numerous national healthcare organizations.
How you can help:
- Bring a list of medications you’re taking with you to the hospital, including over-the-counter medications as well as prescriptions. Also bring a list of vitamins, supplements or herbal products you’re taking.
- Alert your nurse, physician or other caregivers of medication allergies.
Hand hygiene
A critical part of patient safety, good hand hygiene helps prevent the spread of infection. Saint Raphael’s hand hygiene policies and practices are based on recommendations from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). John Boyce, M.D., section chief of Saint Raphael’s Infectious Diseases department, was co-author of the CDC guidelines. Excellent hand hygiene is one of Saint Raphael’s organization-wide quality initiatives.
In addition to soap and water, dispensers with alcohol based hand rubs are available for staff and visitors. Alcohol-based hand rubs are proven more effective than soap in reducing the number of bacteria on hands. To learn more about hand hygiene, visit www.handhygiene.org.
How you can help:
- Before and after visiting your loved one in the hospital, use the Purell® alcohol-based hand rub dispenser outside each patient’s room. Please follow any other infection control procedures outlined by your loved one’s care team and do not visit when you are ill.
- Follow Saint Raphael’s respiratory hygiene/cough etiquette procedures, particularly during cold and flu season. Patients and visitors with respiratory symptoms may be asked to wear masks. Those who can’t wear a mask will be given tissues to use when coughing or sneezing. Instructional materials, masks and tissues are made available to patients and visitors.
Fall prevention
Research shows patients are at a higher risk for falls while recovering from illness or surgery. Saint Raphael’s has a comprehensive program to prevent harm from falls that includes close monitoring of patients at high fall risk. Our program, based on National Patient Safety Goals, also includes:
- Special identification measures for patients at high fall risk, including angel signs posted outside these patients’ rooms and above their beds.
- Ongoing staff training in the latest fall prevention measures and techniques
- Fall prevention education for patients and visitors
- The latest fall prevention equipment and technology, including bed and chair alarms that indicate when a patient has gotten up.
How you can help:
- Staff members will provide you with information on how to help prevent patient falls.
- Please follow and support staff procedures to protect your loved one. For example, do not remove any protective devices staff put in place to protect your loved ones, i.e. hip pads. If staff put your loved one’s bed rails up, please leave them up.
- Give nursing staff information about your loved one’s normal routines and/or special needs (i.e., does your loved one have a history of passing out, falling, getting out of bed in the middle of the night and/or being confused?).
- Ask staff if you may bring in a safe activity the patient enjoys (i.e., books, puzzles) to keep your loved one occupied and reduce his or her urge to get out of bed. You can also arrange for family or friends to sit quietly with your loved one.
- Don’t hesitate to contact your loved one’s caregivers if you have questions, concerns or need help.
Leading-edge technology
Saint Raphael’s highly trained staff uses the latest treatments, procedures and technology, designed to improve patient outcomes and enhance safety. To learn more about these advances, click the healthcare services Tab at the top of any page of this Web site and then click on the clinical area you’re interested in. You’ll also find information in our online press room and in Better Health magazine. Some of the new technology we’re using includes:
- Nellcor Puritan Bennett 840 ventilators. These ventilators have alarms with different tones and visuals to indicate different urgency levels, helpful to nurses responding to the alarms. The ventilators also have different breathing modes that allow respiratory therapists to change flows and pressures depending on patients’ conditions.
- Bispectral Index (BIS) monitors, which measure sedation levels during surgery and enable patients to wake up quicker and more clear-headed after anesthesia.