Articles

July 9, 2024

Georgia Hospital Uses High Reliability Organization (HRO) Principles to Redesign Daily Safety Huddles

Southeast Georgia Health System (SGHS), a 300-bed hospital in Brunswick, Georgia, began a journey in 2022 with new leadership to improve transparency in reporting quality and patient safety outcomes. The senior team identified gaps between the current practice of their leadership huddle (an information sharing, and general announcement meeting implemented in 2018) and high reliability […]

July 9, 2024

Alabama Hospital Develops Community Program to Decrease Health Disparities

Baptist Medical Center South, a 492-bed hospital in Montgomery, Alabama, is addressing health disparities in their communities. Their focus is on uncontrolled diabetes in younger African-American patients, and the priority population is African-American patients under the age of 55 years and with an A1c of 7 or greater. Short-term goals include: 1) Provide patient and […]

June 27, 2024

Hospitals Improve Readmissions Rate Using KONZA Health Information Exchange (HIE)

Alliant partnered with KONZA (a health information exchange provider) to provide services to hospitals in Kansas under the Hospital Quality Improvement Contract (HQIC). The technical assistance provided includes data analysis and monthly one-on-one coaching calls. The KONZA HIE workflow specialist met with hospital improvement teams to identify opportunities based on data and trends and provide […]

June 27, 2024

Pullman Regional Hospital’s Journey to a High Reliability Organization (HRO)

Pullman Regional Hospital, a critical access hospital in Pullman, Washington, has demonstrated its commitment to a high-reliability organization that aligns and integrates systems of safety, clinical practice, quality and risk management, human resources, finance, and operational performance improvement. Pullman Regional uses a Just Culture Screening Tool that assists in determining human error, at-risk, and reckless […]

March 4, 2024

Alabama Hospital Focuses on Infection Prevention to Decrease C. difficile Infections

Baptist Medical Center South is a licensed 492-bed hospital in Montgomery, Alabama. As an enrolled hospital in Alliant Health’s Hospital Quality Improvement Contractor (HQIC) program, the hospital teams work to improve quality and patient safety, including infection prevention. Opportunity for improvement was identified based on data, reviews, and specimen testing: Infection Prevention found the standardized […]

February 28, 2024

Crisp Regional Medical Center’s Health Equity Approach to Decreasing Readmissions

During the annual Georgia Hospital Association Patient Safety and Quality Summit, hospitals submit quality improvement projects for the chance to earn recognition and a GHA Patient Safety and Quality Award, which highlights the hospitals’ quality journey from the previous year. Recognizing that hospital readmissions create significant expenses for health care organizations, Crisp Regional Medical Center’s […]

January 25, 2024

Physician Engagement at Alabama Hospital is Key to Reducing Sepsis Mortality

In early 2023, the quality department at DeKalb Regional Medical Center (DRMC) – a 134-bed, full-service hospital in Fort Payne, Alabama–selected sepsis mortality as a performance improvement project. Although the sepsis bundle compliance rates were quite good as compared to the sepsis mortality rates, the team was curious about why their sepsis bundle compliance outperformed […]

December 6, 2023

Contract Pharmacy Improves Antibiotic Stewardship in a Rural Community

An increased focus on antibiotic stewardship (ABS) began for Trego County-Lemke Memorial Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital in WaKeeney, Kansas, about two years ago, shortly after the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) released a statewide heat map showing the prevalence of E. coli resistance. This report included a ratio of antibiotic usage, […]