Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Safety-First Culture and More

The only acceptable number of avoidable patient harms is zero. At Ponca City (Okla.) Medical Center, all hospital staff are working to achieve 100% of patient safety goals. The 140-bed hospital has used best practices and tools from its participation in the AHA/HRET Hospital Engagement Network. Every day starts with a safety huddle that includes the entire management team, says CEO Andrew Wachtel. The team reviews safety events that occurred at the hospital during the previous 24 hours. Hospital teams also review the facility’s serious safety event rate and measure total harm across the board, adds Carla Hobbs, chief quality officer. Front-line teams participate in daily safety huddles, conduct bedside shift reports and categorize safety events. Everyone—CEO, board members, physicians, nurses, housekeepers and food service staff—is working to put safety first.  As a result, since 2012, Ponca City Medical Center has prevented 600 patient harms.

For more information, contact Hobbs at Carla_Hobbs@chs.net.

HPOE.org  features a video about Ponca City Medical Center, along with videos of 16 other hospitals that are included as part of the HRET HEN High-Performing Hospitals Video Spotlight Series.