The AAAHC Institute for Quality Improvement, a not-for-profit subsidiary of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, has announced the winners of the 2010 Bernard A. Kershner Innovations in Quality Improvement Awards.
Two awards are given annually — one for surgical/procedural care and one for primary care. The winner of the surgical/procedural care award is New Jersey Surgery Center in Mercerville for its program to combat post-operative hypertension in cataract patients.
After identifying an increase in hypertension and lengths of stay for cataract patients with a history of hypertension, the NJSC started a QI activity to study the problem. The ASC discovered that 80 percent of patients who had a history of hypertension were not taking their morning anti-hypertensive dose prior to their surgery at the center, indicating the patients likely did not receive instructions to do so.
NJSC developed instructions highlighting the importance of taking prescribed blood pressure and cardiac medications before surgery with a goal of increasing the compliance rate of patients taking their medication from 20 percent to 90 percent. The ASC achieved a 91.5 percent compliance rate in four months.
NJSC will present its study and receive its award at the AAAHC Institute's 10th Annual National Educational Forum for Ambulatory Health Care in Las Vegas in December.
SCA Fort Worth (Texas) Endoscopy Center received an honorable mention in the surgical/procedural category for its quality improvement activity on "Pathology Collection Variance Prevention."
Learn more about the 2010 Bernard A. Kershner Innovations in Quality Improvement Awards.