YNHCH earns national award for developing culture of safety
Accepting the Children’s Hospital Association Pediatric Quality Award were (l-r): Marianne Hatfield, RN, vice president, Patient Services, YNHCH and Women’s Services; Matthew Grossman, MD, quality and safety officer, and Rebecca Ciaburri, RN, performance manager, quality and safety, YNHCH; Cynthia Sparer, senior vice president, Operations, YNHH, and executive director, Children’s Hospital and Women’s Services; Mimi Saffer, CHA; and Lauren Edwards, RN, performance improvement coordinator, YNHCH.
Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital recently won the national Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) 2017 Pediatric Quality Award for developing a culture of safety and eliminating serious safety events.
The award recognizes the results of a successful, four-year project to improve reporting, recognition and interventions related to serious safety events (SSEs); reduce SSEs to zero; significantly increase SSE reporting; and avoid $3 million in SSE-related healthcare costs. Matthew Grossman, MD, YNHCH quality and safety officer, led the effort.
In 2012, YNHCH set its sights on being among the safest children’s hospitals in the country, but hospital staff needed a more reliable system for identifying and reporting safety events. Their interventions led to increased reporting, a more accurate understanding of safety gaps and an eye toward prevention. Their successful initiative illustrates how culture change, leadership and effective intervention substantially impacted hospital safety.
“This is the single most important thing that we do,” said Rebecca Ciaburri, RN, performance manager, YNHCH quality and safety. “Eliminating patient harm serves as the foundation for everything we strive for – but we cannot do it alone. Safety is everyone’s job and it takes a fully engaged team and hospital to drive the success.”
Awarded every other year, the Pediatric Quality Award honors successful quality initiatives that significantly improve care for pediatric patients. The overall and category winners were selected from 110 entries by a panel of more than 30 industry experts and quality and safety leaders from children’s hospitals.
