Enloe Medical Center

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Quality initiatives

Enloe Medical Center committed to creating a culture of quality. Enloe participates in a number of quality assurance initiatives and publicly released surveys.

Enloe's Quality Summit

Since 2009 Enloe has hosted an annual Quality Summit. This is where Enloe Medical Staff members (physicians) and employees access current quality initiatives and identify new ones. The 2012 Quality Summit took place in April. See Enloe's 2012 Quality Summit Annual Report (Adobe PDF).

Enloe's 2012-2013 Quality Initiatives

• Optimize Handling of Clinical Lab Specimens: Streamline processes to ensure that all clinical lab specimens are handled in the most appropriate manner to obtain accurate, timely results.
• Protect Patients’ Sleep: Create a quieter environment where patients can get more
  health-restoring sleep while in the hospital.
• Update Medications Effectively: Refine documentation of patients’ medications as an important part of safe medical care.
• Improve Surgical Services Efficiency: Enhance processes for our surgical care patients to provide the best experience possible.
• Ongoing Quality Initiatives: Each of previous years’ Quality Initiatives will continue to be monitored, refined and shared as part of our ongoing commitment to quality. See last year's (2011-2012) Quality Initiatives (Adobe PDF) or review the latest Quality Summit Annual Report for an update.

Ongoing Quality Initiatives

Our many quality initiatives include the following:

• We are regularly reviewed by the Joint Commission, and are Joint Commission Accredited.
• We participate in the CHART Quality Measurement Reporting program to develop a public report card on hospital quality measure.
• We have adopted the World Health Organization Surgical Checklist to promote patient safety during surgery. 
• Bedside Medication Verification (BMV) and Electronic Medication Administration Record (eMAR) use bar-code technology to verify that medications are administered to the right patient in the right dose at the right time. This is one way we commit to medication safety. Improvements have been seen in areas using BMV/eMAR.
• To enhance patient safety, Enloe implemented a family-initiated Rapid Response Team. Intervening when a patient starts to show signs of deterioration can often prevent a worsening of condition. Use of these teams has shown dramatic decreases in the number of “code blue” events.
• We provide publicly reported data and receive designations for care of strokes and ST Elevation Myocardial Infarctions (STEMI heart attacks), as well as for our Bariatric Program.
• In 2011, Enloe became the first hospital north of Sacramento to receive the prestigious International Baby-Friendly Hospital Designation.
• In 2011, Enloe shared presentations at the Institute for Health Care Improvement Annual Forum for our successes in obstetric care, minimizing blood use in heart surgery, improved outcomes for stroke patients and optimized use of antibiotics.
  
• Enloe has several quality watch committees, including the Board of Trustees’ Committee on Quality; Infection Prevention & Control Committee; Performance Improvement & Patient Safety Plan (PIPS) Committee; Medication Safety Committee; Antibiotic Stewardship Committee; Surgical Care Improvement Program

Enloe Heart Program Quality Initiatives

• Participation in the California Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Mortality Reporting Program, a survey of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) and the Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH)
• Participation in a surgical outcomes database managed by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). STS is widely regarded by clinicians as the most comprehensive and conclusive tool for comparing cardiac surgery results.
• Reports outcomes of cardiac artery bypass graft surgeries to CCORP (California CABG Outcomes Reporting Program) semi-annually, as is required by law in California
• Learn more about the Enloe Heart Program.