Val Verde RMC | Keeping Well | Winter/Invierno 2019

6 Keeping Well/Mantenerse Sano Quicker care means better life after stroke Val Verde Regional Medical Center’s (VVRMC) partnership with the Get With The Guidelines®Stroke program has demonstrated success in rapidly identifying and treating stroke patients in our community. The Emergency Department has decreased door-to-treatment time for stroke patients by 64 minutes. Acting fast saves patients from the life-limiting effects of stroke and is just a part of quality measures at VVRMC. Quality/Calidad V AL VERDE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER (VVRMC) is committed to delivering care you can trust. “Delivering excellence is a core value for us,” says Falan Durbin, VVRMC Healthcare Quality Improvement Director. Since 2015, in fact, VVRMC has launched eight major quality initiatives to see that patients receive the best possible medical care. For each one, a hospitalwide team systematically scrutinized a key issue affecting patient care, delving deep into the root causes of problems and devising best-practice solutions. “This reflects our No. 1 priority of putting patients at the center of everything we do,” says Lawrence Hernandez, PhD, Chief Nursing Officer. Here’s a look at several initiatives: Fast stroke care. Successfully treating a stroke is a race against time. To keep brain tissue from dying, every second counts. And an initiative launched in late 2017 is helping the VVRMC medical staff win that race. VVRMC now works more closely with local emergency medical services (EMS) providers. When EMS providers see a person with stroke symptoms, they alert the VVRMC Emergency Department (ED). The ED issues a Stroke Alert, and a dedicated stroke Putting patients first VVRMC TAKES A TARGETED APPROACH TO IMPROVING YOUR CARE teamwaits at the ED door to start treatment the moment the person arrives. “We’ve been able to diagnose a stroke and start treatment with clot- busting drugs in under an hour,” Hernandez says. “That’s impressive for any hospital in the country.” VVRMC is also steps away from becominganationallycertifiedstroke- ready hospital, which allows the stroke team to consult with skilled neurologists via videoconferencing. Infection prevention. Every day, about 1 in 31 hospital patients in the U.S. wind up with at least one hospital-acquired infection (HAI). And some can be deadly. But at VVRMC, last year’s number of HAIs was close to zero. Among other steps, the staff doubled down on efforts to ensure that all employees scrub their hands when entering a patient’s room. Doing what’s best for babies. A baby’s brain and other organs still develop in the last weeks of pregnancy. So VVRMC has focused on reducing the number of scheduled cesarean sections and induced labors before 39 weeks. By educating parents about the risks, VVRMC has reduced early elective deliveries by 10 percent since 2017. Spotting sepsis. This complication of infections can cause organ failure and death if not treated quickly enough. But it often begins quietly and can be mistaken for the flu or a urinary tract infection. “That’s why VVRMC recently put in place strict protocols for rapidly spotting and treating this condition before it’s deadly,” Durbin says. MOVING FORWARD More initiatives are starting up soon. These include ones designed to: ■■ Increase vaccination rates in area children. ■■ Reduce hospital readmissions. ■■ Keep improving every aspect of the patient experience.