The Georgia Hospital Association has just announced that Athens Regional Medical Center has garnered first place for large hospitals for the 2003 Quality and Patient Safety Award. Our submission was titled "Development of a Systematic Assessment of Flow and Error (SAFE) to Improve Safety." The competition was fierce in that there was a significant increase in the number of entries from across the state, and the judging was rigorous. The panel of judges was multidisciplinary and included physicians from Emory, and Medical College of Georgia, representatives from the Leapfrog Group out of Washington, Pharmacists from schools of pharmacy, Joint Commission surveyors and others.

This recognition is really a testament to the commitment to excellence of our Nurses, Pharmacists, Physicians, Laboratory, Radiology and all ancillary care providers and staff. The award included four main areas:

Our Intention:

• Our success really starts with the intention of every caregiver and staff member who work to do the right thing for every patient every time, and continues with our strategic initiative to improve patient safety by providing an environment free of preventable harm. These intentions are manifested in various ways including our Patient Safety Plan, the leadership development workshops, and the direction provided by our SafeCare Committee.

Our Innovation:

• ARMC's Pillars of Excellence focus the organization on what is important, and our balanced scorecards ensure that we pay attention to the appropriate aspects of care. Additionally, we created our own Quality Index and Medication Safety Rate that together integrate significant processes that allow us to monitor how we provide safe, high quality care. Our innovation is reflected in our leaders recognizing that the seams between care events, the handoffs between caregivers and the ability to see safety and quality from our patients' perspective (Jane's eyes) are all integral to patient safety. This resulted in developing handoff tools and our approach to inviting the patient to participate in the care process through Partners in Care and AIMS. Additionally, we created an innovative tool that allows us to evaluate a care process and find opportunities to improve the flow of care and reduce errors (SAFE tool).

Our Results:

• Our Quality Index is posted on every Pillars of Excellence Board. Included in it is the Medication Safety Rate. Our handoff tool has improved the safety of patient care. We're beginning to see the effects of our attempts to create a blame-free culture. More errors are being reported before they create harm so that systems can be fixed. We are making improvements in important areas related to reducing omissions, improving our matching (patient identification), and enhancing our handoffs.

Our Transferability of Methods:

• It is recognized that ARMC's innovative approach may be embraced and utilized by any healthcare provider without undue expense or the purchase of expensive systems. By demonstrating these effective methods, ARMC and all care partners are helping to improve the care for patients not only in our facility, but across the state.
  

This award is just one external recognition of the efforts of every care provider and staff member to do the right thing for every patient every time. We should each feel justifiably proud of our successes and celebrate each person's contribution to improving the quality of care and creating a safe place for patients, families and employees. Finally, let's continue to improve as we remember Gary Phelp's credo: always proud, never satisfied.