Hollister
– Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital is being honored for
excellence in patient safety.
Hollister – Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital is being honored for excellence in patient safety.
Linley Stanger, vice president of nursing services for the hospital, will accept the Cheers Award, which recognizes hospitals nationwide for medication error prevention and safe medication use, on behalf of the hospital on Tuesday in Anaheim, Calif.
The award is given by the Institute for Safe Medical Practices.
“What they’re looking at is people or organizations who have had an impact in implementing safe medical practices,” Stanger said.
Betty Littfin, the hospital’s quality and risk manager, said the hospital has implemented several changes to help correct medication errors.
“One of the most effective changes we’ve made in the last couple of years is we purchased automatic dispensing machines for medication,” Littfin said.
The hospital began using Omnicell medication dispensing machines in 2004, Littfin said. The dispensing machines provide safety checks and balances for hospital staff, Stanger said.
“When you look at your medication dispensing you want as many safety checks as possible,” Stanger said.
The clinical pharmacist for the hospital also makes pharmaceutical rounds to double check patients’ medications, Stanger said.
“That is one of the advantages of having a small hospital and a committed staff,” Stanger said.
It is estimated that medication errors are responsible for 7,000 deaths nationwide annually, according to the Institute of Medicine, a private group that conducts studies for the government.
There have been no deaths from medication errors at Hazel Hawkins, Stanger said.
Hazel Hawkins joined 3,000 hospitals nationwide in the “100,000 Lives Campaign” in January.
The goal of the campaign has been to save 100,000 lives this year through implementation of new health care practices designed to prevent avoidable deaths.
Since then, Stanger said, the hospital has improved its error rate. “We have less medication errors today than we did before,” she said.
The hospital has also implemented a medication reconciliation program, Littfin said. As patients come into the hospital, the hospital creates a list of their existing medications to avoid conflicts with new medications.
If the patient is referred to a different department the list goes along as well, Littfin said.
The safety procedures include staff members, physicians, pharmacists and nurses, Littfin said.
“It’s been multidisciplinary,” Littfin said.
Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or
mv*********@fr***********.com
.
