Buffalo Hospital Birth Center recognized for excellence
Buffalo, MN 04/15/2009-- Buffalo Hospital’s Birth Center is being recognized for excellence in patient safety by the Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA). MHA’s Annual Health Care Awards honor the best and brightest in Minnesota health care - individuals who have offered dedicated service to hospitals and organizations that have implemented successful, innovative programs.
Buffalo Hospital won the Patient Safety Improvement: Calls to Action Award in the small hospital category. The award is in recognition of the Birth Center’s efforts to eliminate any occurrence of gauze left in a patient after the birth of a baby.
“When it comes to retained sponges – the only acceptable goal is zero. We now achieve that every day at Buffalo Hospital,” says Cindy Oquist, Birth Center manager. “Unfortunately, despite faithfully practicing sponge counts before and after deliveries for several years, we did have two occurrences in 2007. While it is difficult to talk about, our staff really took those incidents to heart and really came together to ensure our patients receive safe, quality care.”
Efforts to eliminate retained surgical sponges following delivery include:
- re-educating staff about the purpose and importance of accurate documentation
- training from surgery center staff on standards of sponge counting in the operating room, leading to more purposeful, conscious counts
- attendance at a MHA Safe Count Conference
- embracing the MHA’s Roadmap to a Comprehensive Safe Count Procedure Program – including updating policy and procedure, developing interventions, accountability and action steps, including changing the way gauze is disposed to ensure it can be visually inspected during the counting process and using a different kind of sponge
“Patients are not moved to their post partum room until all “Pause for Gauze” counts are completed and every sponge accounted for. We now only use radiopaque sponges, so if a sponge is missing, we can do an X-ray to determine if it is in the patient.”
The hard work has paid off. Buffalo Hospital Birth Center has had zero retained sponges following a vaginal birth in 2008 and or so far in 2009.
“The MHA honor is a wonderful recognition of our accomplishments, but ultimately, we care about patient safety and we are proud that we deliver the highest quality of care to patients in our community,” says Oquist.
The Birth Center’s success is directly related to the collaboration and engagement among multiple disciplines, including providers, Birth Center nurses, physicians, Surgery Center nurses, Quality and Safety departments and management teams.
“When it comes to safety and quality, people rally together because they know we are making efforts for the right reason – to deliver exceptional, quality and safe care to our patients,” says Buffalo Hospital President Jennifer Nelson.
In a recent national survey rating the patient safety culture at hospitals across the country, Buffalo Hospital scored well above the national average in nearly all categories. “Safety is the bedrock for our care delivery system and building a culture of safety is one of most important initiatives at Buffalo Hospital,” says Nelson. “Our results show that the organizational culture and the climate at Buffalo Hospital give our staff a sense of security that our patients are receiving exceptional and safe care.”
About Buffalo Hospital
Buffalo Hospital is a not-for-profit regional medical center committed to providing exceptional care and improving the health of the communities it serves in and around Wright County. Part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, information about Buffalo Hospital's services along with the latest health information can be found online at www.buffalohospital.org.
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