BWH Receives National Quality Health Care Award
Chief Nursing Officer and Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services Mairead Hickey, left, meets with clinical staff on Tower 6 during Patient Safety Executive Walk Rounds, including Darcy Phelan, RN.
Mairead Hickey, PhD, RN, chief nursing officer and senior vice president of Patient Care Services, last month met with a group of nurses on Tower-6D to discuss everything from patient-controlled analgesia to accessing PowerPoint presentations via computers on the unit. Hickey, along with top administrators from IS, Pharmacy and Center for Clinical Excellence, listened as the nurses told her of potential safety issues and problems that arise during care delivery.
The discussion was part of Patient Safety Executive Walk Rounds, a weekly event during which a member of the executive leadership team, Pharmacy and Center for Clinical Excellence meet with clinical staff to discuss care delivery. More than 80 percent of action items that come from walk rounds are implemented and/or fully investigated within six months.
Walk rounds is one example of BWH’s commitment to safety, quality and excellence, and one of many reasons that BWH last month was named winner of the prestigious 2006 National Quality Health Care Award.
“This award is a testament to the hard work of our teams at BWH who have created an environment that promotes a standard of excellence in health care,” BWH President Gary Gottlieb said. “It is truly an honor and a privilege to work with the men and women who are the cornerstone of our commitment to quality and safety.”
In reviewing applicants, the National Committee for Quality Health Care (NCQHC) examines hospital performance across eight dimensions of quality: leadership commitment; strategic planning; patient-centered practices; innovative informatics and application of new technologies; building a committed workforce; evidence-based performance measurement and improvement systems; strong financial management; and community health needs.
“Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s culture for quality provides an example for hospitals nationwide,” Modern Healthcare magazine proclaimed as it joined the NCQHC and the Cardinal Health Foundation in naming BWH the winner. The magazine published an eight-page supplement detailing how BWH’s mission of caring for patients, leading groundbreaking research and educating the next generation of clinicians is driven by quality, safety and excellence.