Patient safety is an important issue to everyone. Catholic Medical Center wants to keep you safe while you are in our care.

But there have been studies that say that despite the best of efforts, hospitals can actually be dangerous to your health. In fact, in 1999 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) - a branch of the National Academy of Sciences - essentially said just that. Its first report, "To Err is Human," described how tens of thousands of Americans needlessly die each year from medical errors. This alarming message was quickly thrown into the media spotlight to reach the public.

Catholic Medical Center believes that patient safety is a serious business and believes in doing everything possible to make sure you remain safe while you're here in the hospital. We are involved in several national hospital safety-related initiatives. These, combined with our own safety programs (many of which have been in place for a long time) help to ensure your stay with us will be a safe one.

Patient safety isn't a new idea at Catholic Medical Center. But since we are committed to continuously improving the way we care for patients, there will always be new and innovative programs to make things better. Many of these initiatives are based on existing programs and give us the opportunity to compare ourselves to other hospitals, both in New Hampshire and nationwide.

The following are examples of some of these patient safety programs and projects throughout the healthcare industry in which Catholic Medical Center is involved:

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)
Founded in 1991, IHI is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving healthcare by improving the quality and value of patient care.

In its latest program, the Save 100,000 Lives Campaign, IHI promotes simple approaches to hospital care that can make a real difference. Catholic Medical Center chose to be part of this national campaign.

The campaign focused on saving 100,000 patients' lives in U.S. hospitals over an 18 month period by encouraging hospitals to make changes in healthcare that have been shown to help in preventing deaths. The campaign continues with these efforts.

It focuses on six proven methods to reduce severe illness and prevent accidents and deaths. Following is a brief description of each of the six practices:

• Implement what is referred to as a "rapid response team" (RRT) to assist in caring for non-intensive care hospitalized patients whose conditions are deteriorating rapidly, but prior to reaching "crisis" status. (In May 2006, CMC was one of six hospitals in New England and the only hospital in New Hampshire to be chosen as a Mentor Hospital for this initiative.)
• Focus on delivering treatments to heart attack patients that have been proven to be effective and potentially lifesaving, such as prescribing aspirin and beta-blockers (drugs that lower the heart rate) on arrival and at discharge, and providing smoking cessation counseling when applicable.
• Prevent blood stream infections from intravenous catheters.
• Prevent infection of surgical wounds.
• Prevent pneumonia in patients on ventilators (breathing machines).
• Avoid dangerous drug interactions by making sure there is an accurate, up-to-date record of each patient's medications on admission and at discharge.

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations - National Patient Safety Goals
Catholic Medical Center is in full compliance with JCAHO Patient Safety Goals. These goals were implemented to improve patient safety in health care organizations. The goals are to:

• Improve the accuracy of patient identification
• Our staff will continue to check two patient identifiers (such as verifying your name and medical record number) when they give medications or blood products, draw blood work, take specimens, perform procedures or provide any other treatment. While this sometimes seems unusual or impersonal, it is done to ensure that the right patient gets the right medication or other treatment.
• Improve the accuracy of communication among caregivers
• Our nurses and physicians will read back verbal and telephone orders and critical test results, to be sure that the correct information is communicated as soon as possible. We have developed a list of abbreviations that we do not allow staff members to use at any time.
• Improve the safety of using medications
• Catholic Medical Center has removed concentrated electrolytes (which are potentially very dangerous) from patient care areas in the hospital. We have standardized and limited the number of drug strengths. Annually, we review a list of look-alike and sound-alike medications and take action to prevent errors involving the incorrect interchange of these drugs.
• Improve the safety of using infusion pumps
• All of the intravenous infusion pumps at Catholic Medical Center have what is called a "free flow protection." This prevents patients from receiving too much fluid or IV medication too quickly.
• Reduce the risk of health care-associated infections
• Patients should expect all caregivers to wash their hands before entering the room and again before leaving. We also encourage family and friends to wash their hands when they visit. Effective hand washing is the most important way to prevent the spread of infections, both inside and outside the hospital.
• Reconciliation of medication
• When patients are admitted to the hospital, we will ask for a list of all their medications. This should include over-the counter (e.g., vitamins, etc.), prescription and herbal medications. It is best to keep an up-to-date list of all medications with you. This will help to ensure the accurate prescribing of medications on admission. We will also check the medication list each time a patient is transferred within the hospital and at discharge.
• Reduce the risk of patient harm resulting from falls
• Catholic Medical Center has a comprehensive fall prevention program.

Environmental Safety
Catholic Medical Center has an Environment of Care Safety Management Plan, which defines how we provide a physical environment free of hazards and determines how to reduce the risk of injury. As part of this program, an Environment of Care Safety Committee regularly reviews and analyzes safety processes and identifies potential problems in areas such as medical equipment, security, hazardous materials, waste management, emergency management and utilities management.

Education is provided through employee orientation, annual competency checks, drills, and safety fairs. Improvements are accomplished through preventive hazard surveillance rounds, multidisciplinary team occurrence reviews, and various performance improvement projects.

The Safety Committee reports its progress to the Quality Management Department and ultimately to the Board of Directors. The chairman of the Safety Committee has the authority to intervene whenever conditions exist that pose an immediate threat to life, health or of damage to equipment or physical structure of the hospital.