Sampson Regional Medical Center takes patient safety seriously and takes pride in providing quality care for the community and in a ceremony Tuesday, the hospital was recognized for their outstanding safety achievements.

The local health care facility achieved the Healthgrades 2016 Patient Safety Excellence Award, a designation that recognizes superior performance in hospitals that have prevented the occurrence of serious, potentially avoidable complications for patients during hospital stays.

This distinction, according to Meadow Jaime, director of quality solutions for Healthgrades, places SRMC among the nation’s top five percent of hospitals for patient safety excellence. The local facility was one of only 20 hospitals in North Carolina recognized and the only hospital in the coastal plains region to receive the award.

“Every day at Healthgrades, we’re focused on providing consumers with tools and information that help them make vital decisions about where to seek medical care,” Jaime said. “We believe that mortality and complication rates are the most fundamental, relevant and objective measures of quality. Each of our analyses is completed with that in mind. Our teams examine the clinical outcomes of over 4,500 hospitals across the United States each year.”

According to a release provided by the hospital, on average, 270,457 patient safety events could have been avoided if all hospitals, as a group from 2012-2014, performed similarly to hospitals performing better than expected on each of the 14 patient safety indicators evaluated by Healthgrades.

“The recipients of the Healthgrades 2016 Patient Safety Excellence Award have not only found ways to reduce patient safety events, but to outperform expectations in prevention of safety incidents,” said Evan Marks, Chief Strategy Office, Healthgrades. “We applaud these hospitals for their performance and for their organizational commitment to delivering high-quality care.”

According to Dr. Shawn Howerton, chief executive and medical officer with SRMC, the hospital has implemented many strategies and initiatives over the last few years and the hospital responds to those indicators expected by Healthgrades.

“We make frequent policy and procedural changes to ensure we are exceeding the national standards,” Howerton expressed. “Sometimes these changes are as simple as adapting how we wash our hands and other times require significant process changes and financial investment.”

According to statistics, patients treated in hospitals receiving Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award were, on average less likely to experience an accidental puncture of laceration during a procedure, experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure, experience catheter-related blood stream infections and experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital.

“We take great pride to be among the 20 recipient hospitals in North Carolina for this distinction,” Howerton said. “We work hard every day to deliver safe and quality care to our patients, and this award reflects that commitment.”

In an effort to provide quality care for patients, SRMC has focused on decreasing re-admissions, implemented computerized physician order entry and patient/medication bar code scanning and worked to renovate the emergency department and have additional rooms to provide care to the volume of patients who choose SRMC’s care.

Howerton commended the hospital’s leadership, medical staff, employees, vendors and contractors for their outstanding work.

“This level of quality care is possible because of our providers, leadership, and staff who make continuous improvement a priority. We also appreciate our many other partners, such as contractors and medical supply companies, who impact patient care at Sampson Regional. We value their commitment to compliance with our policies and procedures that keep patients safe in our hospital,” stated Howerton.

Curtis Barwick, Sampson Regional Medical Center chairman of the Board of Trustees, opened the awards ceremony which recognized the hospital for excellence in safety. Also pictured are Meadow Jaime of Healthgrades and Dr. Shawn Howerton, chief executive and medical officer.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_SRMC1-2-.jpgCurtis Barwick, Sampson Regional Medical Center chairman of the Board of Trustees, opened the awards ceremony which recognized the hospital for excellence in safety. Also pictured are Meadow Jaime of Healthgrades and Dr. Shawn Howerton, chief executive and medical officer.

Howerton
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_howerton.jpgHowerton

By Kristy D. Carter

[email protected]

Reach Kristy D. Carter at 910-592-8137, ext. 2588. Follow us on Twitter at @SampsonInd. Like us on Facebook.