Samaritan quality of care efforts reviewed

MOSES LAKE — Talking to patients and families helped Samaritan Hospital cut the number of patients who fall and get hurt in the hospital. That was part of a detailed review of the hospital’s ongoing plan to improve care of patients at the last commission meeting.

Hospitals nationwide are trying to keep people from falling at all, said chief operating officer Becky DeMers, but are focusing on keeping patients from getting hurt when they fall. The hospital’s administration and staff have been doing a lot of research and focusing on falls, since there was a time last year when the hospital was missing its targets. The rate is measured over the preceding 12 months, and has been dropping since mid-year 2016.

DeMers said staff discovered the biggest reason people were falling is that they tried to get up to go someplace, usually the bathroom, and fell en route. Many of them were people who had joint replacements, who thought they could make it.

Hospital beds are equipped with optional alarms, but DeMers said staffers didn’t always want to activate them, since they didn’t want patients to feel powerless. Staffers now talk to patients and their families, explaining why the alarms are necessary.

The hospital was also missing its targets for pressure ulcers, also called bedsores. DeMers said hospital staff created a new system whereby patients get an evaluation every time they move from one unit to another. The hospital bought new mattresses and did extra training for doctors and nurses. Checking on patients every hour, a procedure instituted last year, has helped as well, she said. Some patients have sores when they arrive, so hospital officials have worked on documenting them.

The hospital is not transferring adult patients as often, having worked on improving staffing levels, DeMers said. But the hospital isn’t meeting its targets for flu shots for the staff.

Hospital officials have hired a company to help with surveys given to patients when they leave the hospital, asking their opinion of the care they received. Currently the hospital is at or over 50 percent satisfaction from patients in all the areas measured, with most areas of care reaching 75 to 90 percent satisfaction. But the hospital’s goal is to hit more than 60 percent in all areas, and up to 92 percent in some areas.