Lutheran Medical Center Receives 2017 Michael J. Skolnik Award for Patient Safety
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, COLO. – Lutheran Medical Center’s Clostridium Difficile (C. diff) Prevention Team was honored with the 2017 Michael J. Skolnik Award for Patient Safety at the Colorado Hospital Association (CHA) Patient Safety Leadership Conference. The team’s work focused on education and awareness to obtain a greater than 50 percent reduction in C. diff cases at its facility. The multidisciplinary team at Lutheran Medical Center, with senior level executive sponsorship, developed protocols that were shared throughout the hospital system. The team also leveraged the hospital’s participation in the CHA Antimicrobial Stewardship initiative, which focused on the proper prescribing of antibiotics to reduce the incidence of health-care-associated infections like C. diff.
CHA and Citizens for Patient Safety have partnered together for the Michael J. Skolnik Award for Patient Safety, an award that recognizes individuals or teams who have demonstrated exemplary dedication and leadership in advancing the quality and safety of health care for patients across Colorado. The award is named for Michael J. Skolnik, who died in 2004 following complications related to medical error; his mother, Patty Skolnik, is founder of Citizens for Patient Safety.
“Citizens for Patient Safety is proud to honor the C. diff Prevention Team from Lutheran Medical Center as this team’s dedication to patient safety has truly made an impact in its health care community and for the patients it serves,” said Patty Skolnik, founder, Citizens for Patient Safety. “We applaud Lutheran Medical Center and its team-approach to this important patient safety initiative,” said Steven Summer, president and CEO, Colorado Hospital Association. “This type of program shows great initiative at the hospital-level and provides best practices that can be shared with others around the state – improving care for all Coloradans.”
About the Colorado Hospital Association The Colorado Hospital Association (CHA) is the leading voice of Colorado’s hospital and health system community. Representing more than 100 member hospitals and health systems throughout the state, CHA serves as a trusted, credible and reliable resource on health issues, hospital data and trends for its members, media, policymakers and the general public. Through CHA, Colorado’s hospitals and health systems work together in their shared commitment to improve health and health care in Colorado. Learn more at www.cha.com.
About Citizens for Patient Safety Citizens for Patient Safety (CPS) was founded in 2005 by Patricia Skolnik after she and her husband, David, lost their only child to medical error and poor communication. Patricia and David’s promise to Michael was to leave the health care system better than Michael found it; CPS is that promise in action. CPS’ mission is to increase engagement between patients/families and providers for better health care outcomes. CPS is committed to contributing to the achievement of the triple aim and its work is in alignment with National Quality Strategies and Goals. CPS provides curriculum, training and coaching designed to improve health literacy, strengthen person and family engagement as partners in their care and promote effective communication and coordination of care through Shared Decision-Making.
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