Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital has taken home the Commitment to Quality Award for the second year in a row. The Mountain-Pacific quality award recognizes select Montana hospitals for their dedication to ensuring that patients receive high-quality care in the areas of heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical infection prevention.
This year’s award ceremony took place during the MHA Annual Convention, held on September 22, 2011 in Billings. All Montana hospitals are eligible to apply for Hospital Quality Awards. Award winning hospitals range from small rural hospitals to large urban hospitals. This is the tenth year for this awards program.
“With so many concerns today about the rising costs of health care, patients expect and deserve to see value for their dollar,” says Janice Connors, Mountain–Pacific’s CEO. “People want quality care. They want to be safe and they expect the delivery of care to meet these basic requirements,” she opined. “Hospital quality awards not only raise the bar on health care quality and safety, they acknowledge Montana’s hospital’s for their commitment to incorporating quality improvement techniques and tools to reduce medical errors and safeguard patient health.”
Director of Nursing Susan Hill said that the hospital was especially proud of having been honored this year since the hospital staff has been absorbed in a complete on-line computerization of all its departments and medical records.
“It’s been a tremendous journey,” Hill said of the computerization process, “But we have come through it and still performed well enough to win the Quality Award again.”
Emergency Department Director Jennifer Bush explained that the national organization of hospitals sets standards of excellence based on its examination of hospitals across the nation. Bush said that meeting those standards can help reduce a patient’s length of stay, reduce re-admissions and reduce mortality.
Hill, who directs just under 90 nurses at the hospital, said that to win such an award took team work.
“I don’t do it. It takes the whole team,” said Hill. She said the hospital’s success is due to the culture of excellence fostered at the institution and the dedication to the profession shown by its employees.
Staff Director Alida Merritt said, “This award comes as validation of what we strive for and accomplish as part of our mission here at Marcus Daly.”