| John Mitty Friday, March 8, 2013 |
Smithtown, NY - Medical malpractice insurer, Physician’s Reciprocal Insurers (PRI), based in Roslyn, New York, honored St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center at the Risk Management and Patient Safety Best Practices Award Breakfast, March 5, 2013. The medical center received an honorable mention for improving quality initiatives.
Photo (L to R): St. St. Catherine’s Administrative Director of Regulatory Affairs Ed Attard, St. Catherine’s Nursing Coordinator Laurie Yuditsky, MBA, BSN, RN, St. Catherine’s Director of Education & Research Barbara Gibbons MSN, FNP, RN, Patricia Butera, MBA, BS, RN, representing St. Catherine’s Nursing Education and Research Department, and Deborah Kohn, BS, RN, CCRN, representing St. Catherine’s Nursing Education and Research/Critical Care Department.
As the second largest malpractice insurer in New York State, PRI is focused on sharing best practices that can benefit health care overall. St. Catherine of Siena was honored for its quality initiatives for reducing falls without the use of restraints.
Restraints can have associated risks including agitation, confusion, falls with injuries, functional decline, incontinence, pressure ulcers, social isolation, and even death. On the other hand, falls, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, account for the leading cause of injury related deaths and nonfatal injuries for older adults, 65 years of age or older.
“The incidence of falls and the usage of restraints have the potential for serious and irreversible affects on our patients, not to mention the emotional trauma that may occur to both the patient and the patient’s family,” said St. Catherine’s Nursing Coordinator Laurie Yuditsky, RN, MBA, BSN. “As health care professionals, we have a responsibility to maintain patient safety and protect the patient’s dignity while under our care.”
In order to achieve the honorable mention by PRI, usage of restraints were significantly reduced throughout the hospital. Extensive staff education geared towards fall reduction strategies and restraint reduction focused on the following less-restrictive alternatives, including frequent patient visualizations, distraction techniques, bringing patients to the nursing stations (if medically appropriate), and the use of bed alarms. These methods resulted in significant decreases since 2009. Restraints have been decreased by 97% in acute care and medical surgery units, and by 92% in critical care units. In addition, there has been a corresponding reduction in acute care fall rates by 26%, 11% reduction in moderation to severe fall related injuries, as well as a 20% reduction in all related injuries throughout the hospital.
St. Catherine exceeded its system-wide benchmarks for both restraint use and falls, and continues to decrease these rates due to its proven methodologies. These methodologies are now being singled out by PRI as “best practices”, and further identified as measures other hospitals should consider emulating to improve the overall health care experience for patients.
For more information about St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center, please call (631) 870-3444 or visit stcatherines.chsli.org.
jmitty@longislandyellowpages.com Appears In: Press Releases
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