Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Continuous Quality Improvement

Ensuring the highest quality for patient care means continuously reviewing processes and outcomes. Those words are straight from the website of Verde Valley Medical Center, a 99-bed, nonprofit, rural hospital in Cottonwood, Ariz. VVMC reviews processes and outcomes to prevent inpatient harm in several clinical areas.  To prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia, VVMC developed a checklist for bundle compliance and a tracking tool for capturing ventilator days. Staff standardized peer-to-peer reporting using SBAR—situation, background, assessment, recommendation. A VAP team is responsible for policies and monitoring of the initiative, including educating physicians and nurses to maintain consistency in identifying a VAP diagnosis. Staff uses Lean processes to implement the VAP bundle and provides family education using the teach-back method. Since June 2009, VVMC has had only one VAP (which after review was deemed unpreventable). Continuous process improvement also has helped VVMC prevent central-line infections—none since May 2010—and significantly reduce readmission rates.  Harry Alberti, M.D., chief medical officer, also credits teamwork and culture change at VVMC for the hospital’s top scores in quality and patient satisfaction. VVMC participates in the AHA/HRET Hospital Engagement Network, led in Arizona by the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association.
For more information, contact Dr. Alberti at harry.alberti@nahealth.com.