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Services
St. Charles Hospital
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Quality and Care Management
For 100 years, St. Charles Hospital's rich history has fostered a culture that emphasizes the importance of quality. This is evidenced by:
- Leadership at all levels committed to quality
- A commitment to resources to ensure that a high level of quality is maintained
- A highly skilled nursing and medical staff
- Employee ownership and accountability for quality and quality improvement
- Mutual respect and strong relationships across disciplines, including administration, nurses and physicians
St. Charles was one of the first hospitals in the region to join the landmark "Saving 100,000 Lives Campaign" initiated by the nonprofit Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI.) The IHI challenged U.S. hospitals to save 100,000 lives through the implementation of six proven health care interventions. Hospitals participating in the Campaign agreed to implement one or more of six evidence-based interventions.
St. Charles implemented the following interventions:
- Activate a Rapid Response Team at the first sign that a patient's condition is worsening and may lead to a more serious medical emergency.
- Prevent medication errors by ensuring that accurate and continually updated lists of patients' medications are reviewed and reconciled during their hospital stay, particularly at transition points.
- Prevent patients who are receiving medicines and fluids through central lines from developing infections by following five steps, including proper hand washing and cleaning the patient's skin with "chlorhexidine" (a type of antiseptic).
- Prevent patients undergoing surgery from developing infections by following a series of steps, including the timely administration of antibiotics.
The 3,100 hospitals that participated in this initiative achieved a remarkable goal. An estimated 122,000 lives were saved through their work on the campaign's interventions. This initiative became the spring board for new standards of care.
Today the work continues with "Protecting 5 Million Lives from Harm" campaign. The 5 Million Lives Campaign challenges hospitals to adopt 12 changes in care that save lives and reduce patient injuries. They include:
- Prevent Harm from High-Alert Medications... starting with a focus on anticoagulants, sedatives, narcotics, and insulin
- Reduce Surgical Complications... by reliably implementing all of the changes in care recommended by SCIP, the Surgical Care Improvement Project
- Prevent Pressure Ulcers... by reliably using science-based guidelines for their prevention
Reduce Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection...by reliably implementing scientifically proven infection control practices
- Deliver Reliable, Evidence-Based Care for Congestive Heart Failure... to avoid readmissions
- Get Boards on Board ... by defining and spreading the best-known leveraged processes for hospital Boards of Directors, so that they can become far more effective in accelerating organizational progress toward safe care
St. Charles Hospital is proud to voluntarily participate in an initiative as important as the Protecting 5 Million Lives from Harm campaign. Soon our scoring on these initiatives will be posted on our website so you may see our commitment to the safe delivery of quality care to all our patients.
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