Quality means many things to many people. In a hospital, quality means providing the right care to the right person at the right time in as efficient and compassionate way as possible. To achieve quality, we strive to use the best practices in patient care, to use the best processes in care delivery and to avoid errors. Hospital quality has 2 main dimensions. One dimension is the perspective of the patient and his/her family. Asking our patients to tell us about their experiences at Regional One Health is very important so we can make the experience better. The second dimension is the scientific examination of the outcomes of the care we provide, typically referred to as patient outcomes. This allows us to determine the effectiveness of the care provided to our patients as well as the effectiveness of the processes that support the provision of care. Quality is dynamic and requires a strong commitment by the hospital through a culture of continuous improvement.
Our Quality Priorities
Regional One Health displays a strong commitment to quality in a number of ways. The three most important ways are: 1) participating with colleagues across the country to develop and test best practices; 2) continuously checking the quality of our practices and outcomes against nationally accepted best practices and outcome standards, and 3) hardwiring quality and process improvement structures and processes to assure the delivery of quality care.
The commitment to quality begins with the Board. The Executive staff and Medical Staff operationalize that commitment by hardwiring hospital and medical departments and processes to monitor & analyze patient experience and patient outcome data, and then develop performance improvement initiatives when indicated. An annual Quality and Performance Improvement Plan serves as the framework for quality and performance activities throughout the hospital. An annual assessment of the quality and performance position of the hospital is conducted based on the Plan and reported to the Medical Staff, Executive Staff and the Board.
An Ongoing Commitment
Quality and performance improvement are ongoing organization-wide activities that extend to all aspects of inpatient and outpatient care. These activities affect and are impacted by patients, family members & friends, physicians, physician extenders, and all hospital professional and non-professional staff. The scope of the program includes functions and processes that are complex and interdependent and which, therefore, requires multidisciplinary participation. The Division of Quality is charged with ensuring the organization designs superior processes and systematically measures, assesses, and improves clinical performance indicators, patient health outcomes, and levels of patient satisfaction while minimizing patient safety risks. The Six Sigma Method is used for this purpose.
Quality is dynamic. At Regional One Health, we recognize that to assure quality care, we must be continuously vigilant. And we are. Quality is embedded in our Core Value of Excellence: Living our passion for excellence by maintaining high ethical standards and providing quality healthcare and service through continuous improvement.