Othello improves service for congestive heart patients

Study places hospital at 100 percent compliance

OTHELLO — Othello Community Hospital rated 100-percent compliant in an audit of its congestive heart failure patient discharge practices.

Congestive heart failure patients now receive uniform information and treatment before leaving the hospital. The changes came after the Rural Healthcare Quality Network asked hospitals to update its services to provide "evidence-based" care, Patient Care Coordinator/Discharge Planner Kari Blaak said.

The new standards ensure all heart patients receive an echocardiogram, the best medications and detailed discharge information. The information provided at discharge helps the patient monitor their disease themselves, Blaak said. It includes information on diet, weight monitoring, activity, symptoms and what to do if symptoms worsen. For smokers, the hospital provides information on quitting.

"I think we're giving new (congestive heart failure) patients the most information that we can give them," she said.

The score increasing the most between the first and second quarters of the audit was for testing the left ventricular function of patients, which requires an echocardiogram. The compliance rate went from 60 percent to 100 percent.

Director of Nursing Judy Ulrich said echocardiograms were previously unavailable at the hospital.

For smaller hospitals, scoring high can be a challenge because so few patients are treated, Ulrich said. If one doesn't get a service, the score drops significantly. In the first quarter of the audit, 10 heart patients were treated at Othello Community Hospital. In the second quarter, just three were treated.

"We try to do our best for every single patient that comes through here," Ulrich said.