Patient Safety

Patient Safety at Grand Itasca is a Top Priority!  Our mission statement of “Patient Centered Excellence” guides our staff and providers in making sure you and your family receive the best and safest care possible. Grand Itasca continuously networks with other hospitals, regulatory agencies and patient safety organization to receive and give information on the most current and the best safety practices in health care delivery.

These include:

• Grand Itasca has several committees in place to assure our patients receive safe and quality care.
• We have been accredited by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) since the early 1980s.
• Grand Itasca completed it’s most recent accreditation survey in April 2006 and received a full three accreditation. www.jcaho.org
• We participated in the 100K Lives Campaign sponsored by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a campaign that engages U.S. hospitals in a commitment to implement changes proven to improve patient care and prevent avoidable deaths. For more information, visit www.ihi.org/IHI/Programs/Campaign.
• Grand Itasca has joined other hospitals statewide in reporting of 27 types of serious health events that are part of the Minnesota Adverse Health Event Reporting Law. This law, the first of its kind in the nation, was developed by a coalition of hospitals to help reduce medical errors and improve patient safety. Reporting of these events is meant to provide all reporting agencies with information that will allow them to learn from the quality improvement activities of others.

• Implementation of universal protocol for preventing wrong site, wrong procedure and wrong person surgery through universal site marking and taking a “time out” before the beginning of every surgery to confirm the correct patient is undergoing the correct procedure, the right sight is being operated on, and the right procedure is being performed.
• Implementation of new procedures for placement of patient identification name bands for all surgical or hospital admissions.
• Established “read back” procedures to confirm verbal and telephone orders.
• Adopted a high risk standard abbreviations protocol with local pharmacies.
• Implementation of a fall prevention program.

• Development of new protocols for labeling for medications, liquids and syringes.

• Hand washing and hand care procedure education for all staff that included instructions on, hand washing time standards for hands that are visibly dirty, the use of an alcohol based hand sanitizer if hands are not visibly dirty, and the ban on artificial nails.

Your safety is our priority. You can help us keep you safe by:

• Telling us if you don’t have an ID band on at all times.
• Insisting that your name be asked and your ID band checked before any medications are taken; your blood is drawn; any procedures are done.
• Calling us when you need help. That’s why we’re here.
• Letting us know if you have questions or concerns during your stay.
• Participating as a partner in fall prevention by seeking or providing assistance to those patients that have a fall prevention magnet placed near their doorway.

• Development of a patient advocate program.
• Develop a medication list at discharge for each patient.
• Patient education campaign on how they can help make their stay safer. The campaign will include signage in all patient rooms, additional patient safety information on the Grand Itasca Web site, on demand videos on patient safety in every patient room, and patient/family safety information in waiting areas and exam rooms.

• To learn more about how Grand Itasca and you as our partner can make you or your families next visit the safest and the best possible please feel free to browse the following web sites: mission statement of “Patient Centered Excellence” guides our staff and providers in making sure you and your family receives the best and safest care possible.

To assure that you and your family’s’ health care visit is the safest possible, Grand Itasca has taken the following actions.

• We have several committees in place to assure our patients receive safe and quality care.
• We have also implemented an organizational campaign to partner with our patients and families that will find the following reminders in every patient room.

Your safety is our priority. You can help us keep you safe by:

• Telling us if you don’t have an ID band on at all times.
• Insisting that your name be asked and your ID band checked before any medications are taken; your blood is drawn; any procedures are done.
• Calling us when you need help. That’s why we’re here.
• Letting us know if you have questions or concerns during your stay.
• A Fall Prevention Magnet is placed near the door way of patients who are at risk for a fall to remind our staff, patients, and families to seek and provide extra assistance to the patient.
• We feel it is very important to provide our patients and their families with information on quality and safety. We voluntarily participate in many public and private organizations that share our commitment to quality and safe health care.

To learn more about how Grand Itasca and you as our partner can make you or your families next visit the safest and the best possible please feel free to browse the following web sites:

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations

Joint Commission International Center For Patient Safety

Minnesota Alliance for Patient Safety

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

American Academy of Family Physicians

Healthlink - Medical College of Wisconsin

Health.gov

AMA

Safest In America

Centers for Medicare and Medicade Services

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Grand Itasca Clinic & Hospital · Grand Rapids, MN 55744 · Ph: 218-326-3401