At first, the idea of a rural Critical Access Hospital creating a community-wide educational program was daunting. But for Kittitas Valley Healthcare (KVH) in Ellensburg, this was the next step in an ongoing commitment to patient-centered care.
KVH was aware of a disconnect in patient care. Every day, patients were transitioning from hospital-based care to outpatient services, but shared learning and process improvements were taking place internally. To bridge learning between care settings, KVH created the Rural Grand Rounds educational program: a multidisciplinary opportunity for health care teams and community partners to review clinical cases, enhance knowledge of best practices, and identify areas for process and system improvement to elevate patient care.
Listening to patient and family feedback was key to the program’s development. KVH also invited input from a broad range of internal and external sources, including paramedics, community health providers and staff, local surgeons, midwives, pediatricians and optometrists, Child Protective Service staff, and KVH providers and staff.
At WSHA and AWPHD’s 2019 Rural Hospital Leadership Conference, KVH was awarded the WSHA Rural Quality ~ Everyday Extraordinary Award for its work on the Rural Grand Rounds educational program. Since its creation, the program has brought health care professionals from across the community together to learn from patient care experiences and better meet patients’ need and expectations. More than 500 health care professionals have participated.
WSHA’s Rural Quality ~ Everyday Extraordinary Award recognizes outstanding process improvement by a health system, resulting in a positive impact on the safety and quality of rural health care. It serves as an opportunity to share safety and quality process improvement successes with the larger health care community and be recognized for dedication to increasing safety and quality for Washington patients. To be considered for the award, which will next be given at WSHA and AWPHD’s 2020 Rural Hospital Leadership Conference, nominees must be working on or have completed a safety and quality process improvement project. Submissions will be accepted starting in 2020. Questions can be directed to Sue Bergmann at SueB@wsha.org.
Congratulations to Kittitas Valley Healthcare on receiving this award! (Emily Pate)
