Faith Regional Health Services Receives 2004 Edgerton Quality
Award
In October, Faith Regional Health Services was awarded the
2004 Edgerton Quality Award For Progress by Nebraska Governor
Mike Johanns. The award was for the hospital’s commitment
to quality patient care. The Edgerton Quality Awards Program
is patterned after the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National
Quality Award Program recognized around the world.
The Edgerton Quality Awards are given to Nebraska organizations.
Named after Harold E. “Doc” Edgerton, a Nebraska
native who perfected the stroboscopic flash during his years
at MIT, the award has come to embody the essence of the true
quality process, be it end products and services, or the path
taken to get there. The most important thing about the Edgerton
Award is the way an organization continues to improve over time.
Edgerton award participants engage in a program that asks for
nothing less than excellence.
“The Edgerton Quality Award Program validates our improvement
efforts and helps us think of healthcare as an important sector
in the service world,” stated Mary Meyer, director of
Quality and Accreditation at Faith Regional. “Providing
the highest quality care to our patients is a goal that our
employees work everyday to achieve.”
The Edgerton also gives employees something to rally around.
The program is designed to encourage organizations to examine
existing quality programs with an emphasis on continuous quality
improvement, to implement continuous planning in order to develop
new technologies and products and to recognize Nebraska companies’
outstanding quality achievements. Organizations are evaluated
and scored in a number of categories including leadership, strategic
planning, customer satisfaction, human resources, and product
and service processes.
“The program is also a wonderful morale builder for employees,”
added Meyer. This is the second year that Faith Regional has
won an Edgerton Quality Award. In 2001, the hospital was awarded
the Edgerton Quality Award for Commitment To Quality. Faith
Regional was the first hospital in Nebraska to receive an Edgerton
Award, and the only hospital to have received two Edgerton Awards.
Faith Regional Health Services is a 166-bed, acute care healthcare
system with Centers of Excellence in heart, cancer, physical
rehabilitation and women and children’s services. The
Edgerton Award is sponsored by the Nebraska Diplomats, and the
American Society for Quality, Nebraska Section 1302. The Program
is administered by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.
Transitional Care on Nation’s List of Best Performing Facilities
One hundred and fifty-one long-term care facilities
have received “AAA” status on a list of the nation’s
top-performing nursing homes, according to the list’s creator,
CareScout. Of these 150 facilities, four were from Nebraska, including
Faith Regional’s Transitional Care Unit (TCU).
According to the privately-owned nursing home rating company based
in Massachusettes, a total of 16,400 government certified nursing
home facilities were reviewed. The company’s rating designations
range from “D” to “AAA.”
To achieve a “AAA” current state rating, nursing homes
must meet exceptional quality of life and care requirements, maintaining
full compliance with all eldercare laws and regulations, and be
free of any health deficiencies as noted by state and federal
officials, during the nursing home’s most recent unannounced
inspection survey.
“We don’t hear enough about the nursing homes who
are doing a great job delivering care,” said CareScout President
and CEO Robert Bua. “These nursing homes have demonstrably
outperformed their peers on almost 200 specific quality of care
and quality of life benchmarks.” CareScout, formed in 1977,
is the first private company to ever rate nursing homes. Although
it uses much of the same data as the government, it also uses
different criteria, such as a facility’s violations, resident
profiles and medical modalities.
What has TCU consistently done to be ranked among the top 150
long-term care facilities in the U.S.? It’s a number of
things but the interdisciplinary team approach to care, involving
the patient, physician(s), TCU nurses, rehab therapies, nutrition,
case management, social work, spiritual care and activities staff,
is what sets TCU’s outstanding level of care apart from
other facilities, according to Lisa Parks, director of transitional
care at Faith Regional.
“We have an exceptionally qualified staff who work so well
together. This is due to their longevity and experience in health
care, which in turn contributes to quality care for our patients.
Our focus is on patient wellness which encourages patients to
reach their discharge goals in a timely manner,” said Parks.
Patient education plays another key role in the overall outcomes
of TCU’s patients. Prior to a patient coming to the unit,
they are informed about the care they will receive and the goals
that will be developed to help them recover. Parks feels that
providing therapies twice a day, seven days a week, to all their
patients maximizes the rehabilitation process. Other long-term
care facilities may offer the option of therapy twice a day,
but Parks says that TCU makes sure their patients get that level
of rehabilitation every day.
It’s more than patient care, though, that got TCU to
the top. For the past seven years, they have been rated “deficiency-free”
by the State of Nebraska Medicare surveyors. “We may be
the only facility to add that to our list of accomplishments,”
Parks noted. Because Medicare surveys are “unannounced”
visits, she credits the staff for always being at peak performance.
“If we believe that every day could be a surprise survey
by Medicare, then we are functioning at our best which means
our patients are getting the best possible care.”
TCU is licensed as a long-term care hospital operating as a Medicare
skilled facility. Medicare surveys are extremely comprehensive,
interviewing employees on the unit as well as privately speaking
with patients and their families about their care, pain management
and treatment plans. The surveys also include extensive chart
reviews, medication and treatment observations and an environmental
reviews.
“Our goal for all TCU patients is to get them ready to go
home. There are a lot of dynamics that make that happen beyond
the walls of the hospital. In many instances we have to find outside
agencies that can offer support to our patients before they can
go home,” Parks said. “The patients are very appreciative
of our efforts and that’s what motivates us to be the best.”
