St. Joseph’s Hospital was recently recognized by the Premier Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN) for its elimination of Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI). With the implementation of a new four-point checklist, St. Joseph’s Hospital has not had an infection since October of 2015.
The creation of this checklist was a result of Brenda Bauer, Vice President of Quality, initiating a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) of an incidence of CAUTI discovered by the infection prevention team. The team decided to rethink their view of Foley catheter procedures to improve patient care. Checklist compliance developed very quickly and Bauer said she witnessed a great deal of improvement in the first few months. She credits the success to the nursing leadership developing a Foley list report, which is reviewed every morning by charge nurses and then included in the morning multi-disciplinary rounds.
St. Joseph’s Hospital was also recognized at the West Virginia Hospital Association’s Annual Meeting with the Silver Award for their outstanding work in the Commitment to Excellence Honors Program. The Hospital was recognized for their work in the following areas: Antibiotic Stewardship, Breastfeeding Initiative, Influenza Vaccination, Hospital Improvement Innovation Network, Use and Prescribing of Opioids in Emergency Departments and Tobacco Cessation Assistance.
“Our success in addressing patient safety issues and quality initiatives is a direct outcome of our staff’s dedicated teamwork and commitment,” said Gjolberg. “Like most rural hospitals, our quality measures outperform the larger hospitals, so bigger is not necessarily better.”
