BEMIDJI — Sanford Health Bemidji’s frontline workers were recognized and celebrated at the annual Sanford Health Improvement Symposium on March 20.
Sanford Health of Northern Minnesota — with in-person services offered in nearby communities such as Blackduck, Bagley and Cass Lake, plus the main campus in Bemidji — is the largest employer in this region of the state, with about 2,100 employees.
The symposium featured research projects done across the hospital system to improve safety and patient experience while also making hospital operations more efficient.
In cardiology’s heart failure program, registered nurses Anna How and Melinda Martinez focused on readmissions and found solutions through patient and staff education.
"We started looking at heart failure readmissions because it's the leading cause of patients getting readmitted to the hospital,” How said. “We had noticed that our numbers were increasing over the past couple years.”
"When patients are readmitted, it does decrease their lifespan and their quality of life and it costs the hospital millions of dollars as well,” she added.
The goal of the project was to help people identify the signs of heart failure through referrals into the program.
"A lot of education, making sure they can self-manage this and once they get to that point, we discharge them or graduate them from our program,” Martinez said.
“Simple solutions to reduce the readmission rate,” she said.
Any Sanford-Bemidji regional employee, either in clinical or non-clinical positions, was invited to submit their performance improvement ideas for the symposium, with each department expected to submit at least one project.
One of the category winners was on the 5 Ps, which aimed to standardize the regular care rounds for nurses and nurses' aides in the critical care department.
“You go into the room, you check their pain, potty, positions, pump, possessions," explained Garrett, a critical care researcher. “We asked [nurses and nurses' aides] a bunch of different questions about how they rounded their patients and there were many large inconsistencies.”
"We wanted to make a standard process so that we knew that the same standard was used in both units,” Garrett said, noting the department covers the ICU and the critical care ward.
In total, 39 projects were submitted for the symposium. Awards were granted for first, second and third places, as well as an equity award and the Sanford Health of Northern Minnesota Board of Directors’ choice award.
Awards
- Commitment to Quality & Safety Excellence Award
- Project: Sharing is Caring
- Department: Medical Oncology
- Excellence in Patient Experience Award
- Project: The 5 Ps
- Department: Critical Care
- Equity & Experience Award
- Project: Rebuilding, Restarting, Renewing: The New Beginnings Program
- Department: Behavioral Health – New Beginnings
- Sanford Health of Northern Minnesota Board Award
- Project: Screen Early/Treat Early – The Recipe in Preventing Illness
- Department: Primary Care
- 3rd Place
- Project: Implementation of Depression Screening in Urgent Care
- Department: Walk In Clinic
- 2nd Place
- Project: Building a HAPI Culture
- Department: MSO
- 1st Place
- Project: Hail Mary! Touching Down on Patient Safety and Satisfaction Through Timely Pain Reassessment
- Department: Emergency Department
