Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital’s commitment to patient safety and continuous quality improvement paid off with substantial across-the-board advancements in the hospital’s Patient Safety Index during Fiscal Year 2018.  The overall index improved by 23.75%, with marked improvement in each of the six safety metrics.
 
“These scores are indicative of our steadfast commitment toward providing high quality care and the safest environment for all of our patients,” said Steven Kitchen, MD, Phoebe Chief Medical Officer.  “For more than two years, dedicated quality improvement teams have been working on specific projects designed to improve each metric in our index.  Their hard work is paying off, and our patients are benefiting from that work every day.”
 
The six metrics included in the PSI, along with their FY2018 improvements, are:
 
·         C-Difficile Infections – reduction by 14.75%

·         Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections – reduction by 20%

·         Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infections – reduction by 22.22%

·         Patient Falls with Injury – reduction by 30.77%

·         Medication Errors – reduction by 20%

·         Pressure Ulcers – reduction by 80%
 
For the fiscal year that recently began, a seventh metric tracking sepsis cases was added to the index.
 
“These metrics include data we already report to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  We chose them to make up our Patient Safety Index because we want to focus on anything that could cause harm to a patient and find ways to prevent that harm,” said Evelyn Olenick, DNP, Phoebe Chief Nursing Officer.  “The safety of our patients must be our top priority every day, and our quality improvement teams addressing these issues are making sure that is the case.”
 
Information about C-Diff, CAUTI and CLABSI rates at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital was recently added to www.phoebequality.com.  “Transparency about our quality is extremely important to us at Phoebe,” said Dr. Olenick.  “We want to provide our patients and prospective patients with the most up-to-date information about our outcomes and our quality improvement efforts, to help them make informed decisions about where they seek their healthcare.”
 
The Phoebe quality website also includes surgical site infection rates for seven common surgeries.  The overall infection rate for 2017 was just 0.45%, that equates to 4.5 infections per 1000 surgeries.  “We are pleased with the low rate of surgical site infections, but our goal is to reduce the rate of those infections and other hospital-acquired infections to zero,” said Dr. Kitchen.  “We continue to educate patients and caregivers on risk factors and infection prevention.  We also continually look for ways to improve procedures followed by our clinical staff to make sure we provide the safest possible care for our surgical patients.”