We at WSHA want to take the opportunity during Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 10-16, to recognize the important work and dedication of our Safety & Quality team. In collaboration with our members, the Safety & Quality team leads a variety of ground-breaking patient safety efforts in Washington State.
This week, WSHA joined the national Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) program. AIM is a data-driven maternal safety and quality improvement initiative. Through WSHA, Washington hospitals will be able to connect with other hospitals across the country to improve maternal morbidity and mortality. The AIM program is just one aspect of WSHA’s Safe Deliveries Roadmap, an initiative to improve maternal and infant outcomes by establishing and promoting evidence-based best practices for care across four phases of the perinatal continuum: pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum. To learn more about the AIM program and WSHA’s Safe Deliveries Roadmap, please contact Janine Reisinger, director of maternal-infant health initiatives, at JanineR@wsha.org.
WSHA has also partnered with the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems to create the Northwest Safety and Quality Partnership, which serves hospitals in Oregon and Washington. This is a revolutionary way of increasing cross-state collaboration to share data, best practices and work toward the highest quality of patient care and health outcomes. Contact Jessica Symank, senior director of patient safety and quality partnerships, at JessicaS@wsha.org, for additional information about the Northwest Safety and Quality Partnership.
Additionally, WSHA is proud to co-sponsor Honoring Choices Pacific, which is operated along with the Washington State Medical Association. Honoring Choices PNW works to start conversations and spread awareness about end-of-life care through advance care planning, community engagement efforts, physician education and trainings, and more. Visit HonoringChoicesPNW.org for more information.
WSHA members are also committed to recognizing patient safety work during Patient Safety Awareness Week:
CHI Franciscan
During Patient Safety Awareness week, CHI Franciscan’s medical group will launch action plan templates for clinic managers to begin building a clinic-specific strategy to improve patient safety. These templates were designed based off of the Culture of Safety Survey results received in October. With over 900 physicians and professional providers in clinics conveniently located throughout the Puget Sound, we look forward to continually improving patient safety measures in each one and providing compassionate, quality care tailored to meet the needs of our growing communities.
Virginia Mason celebrates patient safety achievements every year
Virginia Mason annually recognizes one of its teams with the Mary L. McClinton Patient Safety Award for supporting the goal of eliminating avoidable death and harm. Mrs. McClinton died in 2004 due to an avoidable medical error while she was a patient at Virginia Mason. To honor her life, the award named for her is given every year to a team that has shown extraordinary effort and devotion in advancing patient safety. The Virginia Mason Pain Management team, which includes representatives from more than a dozen clinical areas that are addressing the opioid crisis, received the 2019 award on March 4. One result of this team’s work is that the number of Virginia Mason patients on high-risk doses of opioids has decreased 36 percent since 2016. “Improving pain management and reducing opioid use at Virginia Mason continues on all fronts, with emphasis on further alignment across the specialties and collaboration with organizations locally, regionally and nationally,” said Charleen Tachibana, DNP, RN, senior vice president for quality and safety, and chief nursing officer. “Working together, these efforts hold the promise of restoring – and saving – countless patient lives.”
Together with our members, we at WSHA are dedicated to spreading patient safety awareness and initiatives across Washington State. Join us in recognizing this work during Patient Safety Awareness Week, with the knowledge that we will continue working to ensure that Washingtonians receive the highest quality of care.
