Safety Matters
Ever since the Institute of Medicine report in 2001, much attention has been focused on the safety of patients in hospitals. Holy Family Memorial has a long history of safe patient care and has been an early adopter of any new procedures or technology recommended and shown effective by the various patient safety organizations.
We feel it is important that you know some of the steps we have taken in our safety efforts, since they may either not be obvious or may seem to actually create some apparent “extra steps” for you, your family, or you caregivers.
Examples include:
- Computerized physician order entry, which requires all orders to go through an interface to check for allergies, drug interactions, and appropriate doses.
- Bar coding and scanning of all medications administered to patients, preventing wrong doses, timing, or medications being given to patients.
- Computerized IV pumps that prevent wrong doses or rates of IV medications.
- Continuously using two forms of patient ID to prevent wrong tests being performed on a patient.
- “Time-outs” prior to surgical procedures to involve patients, nurses, and physicians in confirmation of “right patient, right side, and right procedure.”
- Elimination of handwritten orders and confusing abbreviations in our medical records.
- “Read-backs” by nursing of all verbal orders.
- Frequent and careful reviews of all plant and equipment maintenance processes.
- Rapid response teams of experienced clinicians to evaluate any patient with change in condition.
- Policies and procedures to reduce the rise of hospital-acquired infections in all patients.
- Assessment of all patients for risk of fall, development of blood clots, and need for immunizations.
Thank you for allowing us to care for you. We appreciate and work hard everyday to deserve your trust.
If you have questions about Holy Family Memorial's Patient Safety initiatives, please call.
For more information on national patient safety initiatives, please access the following websites: