Team from Lake Forest hospital receives top patient safety award

The Midwest Alliance for Patient Safety Patient Safety Organization presented staff from Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital with the MAPS PSO Patient Safety Champion team award in recognition of extraordinary efforts to improve patient safety in health care.

Working together, the team successfully reduced hospital-associated pressure injuries by 83% from 2019 to 2021. Key tactics included weekly huddles between front line leaders and clinicians, as well as having leaders walk through and spend time with front line employees during the workday.

During the huddles and walks, it became clear that patients at risk of pressure injuries required early intervention for better outcomes. Reviewing data helped the staff identify which interventions were most effective.

"This is where real-time coaching came into play," said Kathryn Thomas, MSN, RN, CPHQ, director of quality and patient safety for Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital.

"Real-time coaching allowed for near real-time defect identifications and, subsequently, real-time correction."

The MAPS PSO committee honored the following staff members at Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital:

• Mechelle Krause, RN, WCC, OMS, clinical practice specialist wound/ostomy;

• Karen Mahnke, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, director of operations and associate chief nurse executive;

• Denise Majeski, MSN, RN, ACM, NE-BC, vice president of operations and Bernthal chief nurse executive;

• Laura Meller, MSN, APN, CNS-BC, NE-BC, director of operations;

• Kathryn Thomas, MSN, RN, CPHQ, director of quality and patient safety;

• Lindsay Werth, MSN, RN, CMSRN, CPPS, patient safety program manager.

"We are honored that the Midwest Alliance for Patient Safety recognized our team for their dedication to improving patient safety," said Thomas J. McAfee, president of Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital.

"This has always been a top priority for our organization, and the team's commitment to identifying processes that deliver the highest standard of patient safety has been exemplary."

Federally certified since 2010, MAPS PSO assists its members with the important work of reducing adverse events so they can provide a safer health care experience for their patients.

As part of its commitment to member excellence, MAPS established the Patient Safety Champion Program to reward members' commitment to patient safety.

MAPS also works with nationally recognized leaders in patient safety on research, data mapping and data collection to simplify the data submission process.

To learn more about Northwestern Medicine, visit news.nm.org/about-northwestern-medicine.html.

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