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St. Bernards Healthcare has been recognized by the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care for its quality endeavors. Both St. Bernards Medical Center and the St. Bernards Senior Health Clinic have been singled out for delivering quality care.
The 438-bed acute care medical center received an Innovator Award at AFMC’s 17th annual quality conference in Little Rock, and the St. Bernards Senior Health Clinic received an Innovator Award as well as a Quality Achievement Award.
The Innovator Award for hospitals recognizes healthcare facilities that share innovative and successful strategies with their peers and act as mentors to other facilities. St. Bernards Medical Center was recognized for the development of a protocol for the use of therapeutic hypothermia, a very promising new therapy in the treatment of cardiac arrest patients.
The protocol outlines treatment for certain patients who suffer sudden cardiac arrest. By lowering the patient’s body temperature, healthcare professionals can protect the brain from damage, improving quality of life after cardiac arrest. The first patient on whom the protocol was used suffered sudden cardiac arrest as he finished a marathon in Wynne. The story about his experience … and his treatment at St. Bernards … was featured nationally in a CNN story after the local ABC affiliate produced a story, talking with the patient and his physician.
Since that time, St. Bernards has provided education on the treatment to emergency professionals in Jonesboro. St. Bernards personnel also have presented information on the protocol to about a dozen other Arkansas hospitals.
The Senior Health Clinic received two awards – an Innovator Award and a Quality Achievement Award. The Innovator Award was for use of creative strategies to increase and improve their delivery of seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines during the 2009-2010 season. The Quality Achievement Award recognizes physician offices that use electronic health records to analyze and identify opportunities and strategies for improvement on certain patient healthcare measures related to prevention or management of chronic illness.
This is the fourth consecutive year the St. Bernards Senior Health Clinic has been recognized for its commitment to the delivery of high quality healthcare for the seniors in Northeast Arkansas.
Dr. Barry M. Straube, director of the office of clinical standards and quality and the chief medical officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, presented the awards.
“We continually strive to provide the highest quality care and are pleased that the efforts of our staff and the physicians involved in these projects have been recognized,” said Susan Greenwood, St. Bernards vice president for quality, safety and risk management.
The St. Bernards Senior Health Clinic is located at 303 East Matthews, Suite 202, and offers multidisciplinary healthcare to adults who are 55 years of age and older. The clinic staff includes three board certified geriatricians (physicians specially trained to care for older adults), an advanced nurse practitioner and a social worker. Patients may be either physician- or self-referred.
The Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care (AFMC) is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to the clinical evaluation and improvement of healthcare. Its healthcare quality improvement program is an evidence-based, data-driven structured approach to measurable clinical improvement and has received national recognition. For nearly 40 years, the AFMC has worked to improve health of Arkansans by promoting excellence in healthcare through evaluation and education.