| Twenty-One Hospitals Unite To Improve Quality And Patient Safety
Twenty-one hospitals across six states have come
together to focus on improving clinical quality and patient safety by
eliminating barriers to nurses spending more time in direct patient
care.
A VHA survey showed that many nurses spend less than 30
percent of their time in direct contact with patients. Studies indicate
that increasing nursing involvement in direct patient care improves the
quality and safety of the care that is delivered.
The 21 hospitals have joined what’s known as a
Rapid Adoption Network (RAN), a virtual network that will allow them to
share information about their clinical practices for the purpose of
accelerating the pace of clinical improvement, cutting improvement time
to less than one year. The RAN is sponsored by VHA Inc., the national
healthcare alliance.
A unifying focal point for the RAN will be the clinical
blueprint VHA has developed to help its members focus on increasing
direct patient care time for nurses.
The participating member hospitals, from Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming, include:
- Billings Clinic, Billings, Mont.
- Bozeman Deaconess Hospital, Bozeman, Mont.
- Campbell County Memorial Hospital, Gillette, Wyo.
- Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, Cheyenne, Wyo.
- Community Medical Center, Missoula, Mont.
- Exempla Lutheran Medical Center, Denver, Colo.
- Glendive Medical Center, Glendive, Mont.
- Gunnison Valley Hospital, Gunnison, Colo.
- Longmont United Hospital, Longmont, Colo.
- Portneuf Medical Center, Pocatello, Idaho
- Regional West Health Services, Scottsbluff, Neb.
- Rehoboth McKinley Christian Healthcare Services, Gallup, N.M.
- San Juan Regional Medical Center, Farmington, N.M.
- St. John’s Medical Center, Jackson, Wyo.
- St. Luke’s Magic Valley Regional Medical Center, Twin Falls, Idaho
- St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center, Ltd., Boise, Idaho
- St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center, Ketchum, Idaho
- St. Peter’s Hospital, Helena, Mont.
- Vail Valley Medical Center, Vail, Colo.
- Wyoming Medical Center, Casper, Wyo.
- Yampa Valley Medical Center, Steamboat Springs, Colo.
A RAN is one component of VHA’s overall clinical improvement platform, which also includes:
- Leading Practices Portal – a Web-based
tool specifically designed to provide hospitals with a faster and more
efficient path to adopting leading practices. Hospital members can view
Leading Practice Blueprints and can also compare the gaps in their
processes against the leading practice.
- Leading Practice Blueprints – A
sophisticated process map based on ethnographic research at top
performing VHA members. These blueprints were developed by carefully
studying the clinical, engineering and design factors that are
important to each leading practice hospital and integrating these
elements into a powerful visual format.
- Clinical Educational Series – Multimedia formatted educational programs provide year-round access to leading performers and leading practices.
Address: VHA Inc., 220 Las Colinas Blvd. East, Irving, TX 75039; (800) 842-5146, www.vha.com.
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