February 22 was Patient Safety Day at the Georgia State Capitol. St. Francis Hospital was recognized by Governor Sonny Purdue and the Georgia Hospital Association for two patient safety initiatives, including the hospital’s Rapid Response Team and Medical Reconciliation projects.

“These two initiatives focus on the St. Francis commitment to quality and safety for our patients. Each year we identify areas for improvement and commit resources to identifying “best practices.”  Both of these teams have helped St Francis meet that standard. I am excited that the governor has chosen to acknowledge our commitment to quality and honor our hard working team,” says Dr. Bobbi Farber, senior vice president and chief medical officer at St. Francis.

Rapid Response Team Results

St. Francis launched the Rapid Response Team approach in 2005. Eight months later statistics revealed:

St. Francis Rapid Response Teams consists of a physician, nurse educator or nursing supervisor, critical care nurse and respiratory therapist. As the staff gains more experience with the approach, teams are being deployed earlier and earlier. According to 2005 data, St. Francis was rated as responding to rescue patients in distress 100 percent of the time.

Initiating the RRT approach was prompted by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s “100,000 Lives” campaign, which recommended deployment of a rapid response team at any time by anyone in response to signs of a deterioration in a patient prior to cardiac arrest.

Medication Reconciliation Project Summary

According to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, miscommunication of crucial medical information during the transition of care is now recognized as a leading cause of injury in hospitalized patients. Knowing what medication a patient is on is considered vital medical information. According to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, medication reconciliation should be completed when:

• Patients are admitted to a hospital
• Patients are transferred from specialty units to other nursing units
• Patients are discharged

St. Francis has developed a medication reconciliation process to reduce medication errors, thus improving clinical outcomes. The process includes a checklist/order form for all medications. It is used to compare current medications to the ones used at home; modify and reconcile medications upon internal transfer; and modify and reconcile medications at discharge. As a result of its use, internal data shows that errors have been reduced (This vague…more concrete information as with RRT would be much stronger).

Other keys for successful medication reconciliation include:

• Verifying and collecting an accurate medication history
• Clarifying and comparing the medication history (name, dosage, frequency, indications and route against the doctor's orders)
• Bringing discrepancies to the attention of the physician in order to reconcile them

Patients also play a role in the medication safety process and should:

• Keep a current list of medications with them at all times, especially upon hospital admission and be sure to them to their healthcare provider
• Tell their doctor of any herbs or supplements they are taking.
• Ask physicians, nurses and pharmacists to explain medications if they do not know or understand them
• Check their medications as they receive them.
• Check to make sure their name is on them
• Tell their nurse, doctor or pharmacist if their medication looks different than they normally take.

Other Recent Awards
In December 2006, St. Francis was also recognized at the Georgia Hospital Association’s (GHA) Patient Safety Summit with two 2006 Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA) Quality and Patient Safety awards for the same projects, receiving:

• A second place award for implementing its Rapid Response Team strategy
• A third place award for the hospital’s medication reconciliation project