Pictured is FMH Quality Analyst, Luke McDaniel
Quality in healthcare is the degree of excellence of delivering care that ensures positive patient outcomes, but also meets the expectations of the patients, care-givers, and visitors. Therefore, a community stands proud when a thriving hospital like Fairfield Memorial Hospital is rated #1 among the non-OB participating hospitals in the Illinois Hospital Engagement Network (IHA HEN) for their commitment and delivery of quality care.
“FMH has made substantial strides to further improve the quality of care patients receive. As the #1 participating non-OB hospital, I am extremely pleased, as this is no simple undertaking,” said Katherine Bunting-Williams, FMH CEO. “I want to recognize the entire team at FMH during Healthcare Quality Week including, but not limited to, our team of providers, patient care staff, Quality Analyst, and supporting work groups for accelerating quality improvement, for improving patient safety and transforming our delivery of health care here at FMH.”
FMH has achieved substantial compliance with reducing preventable readmissions, as well as reducing and maintaining acceptable benchmark standards for healthcare acquired infections. FMH quality leaders have attended and presented at many IHA HEN events and navigated reviews of quality through IHA HEN site visits.
FMH is currently working on quality initiatives to help prevent and quickly diagnose sepsis in patients. There are approximately 750,000 new sepsis cases each year in the US, with at least 210,000 fatalities. As medicine becomes more aggressive, with invasive procedures and immunosuppression, the incidence of sepsis is likely to increase even more. Reducing mortality due to severe sepsis requires an organized process that guarantees the early recognition of severe sepsis along with the uniform and consistent application of evidence-based practices.
“At FMH we have early tracking processes in place to deliver the appropriate antibiotics in a timely manner. In addition, we are also streamlining our process that identifies the presentation of sepsis and acquiring the appropriate lab results quicker,” stated Luke McDaniel, FMH Quality Analyst.
“I am extremely proud of the quality we deliver to our patients and our continued focus to improve outcomes of all of our patients. We are appreciative of the recognition received from the IHA HEN and The Joint Commission, which solidifies a significant accomplishment for our hospital,” stated Katherine Bunting-Williams, Ph.D., FMH CEO.
