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Boise hospitals win honors for preventing medication errors, finding other ways to improve patient care

By Colleen LaMay - clamay@idahostatesman.com

Published: 04/02/09


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The independent, nonprofit group Qualis Health gave St. Luke's and St. Alphonsus hospitals in Boise top honors for steps they have taken to improve patient care. Here are the awards:

* St. Luke's Health System, Boise, reduced the chances of patients getting the wrong medication in part by improving the information available to nurses.

* St. Luke's Children's Hospital, Boise, reduced the number of premature babies who come down with pneumonia linked to use of ventilators.

Ventilators help patients who cannot breathe on their own. St. Luke's identified early the babies at highest risk of contracting the disease, created forms for preventing it and posted precautions at the head of each baby's bed.

* Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center improved the care provided to the sickest patients by creating a multidisciplinary team to address respiratory therapy, infection prevention and other key areas for critical-care patients. Hospital officials also started using mouthwash with Chlorhexidine, a chemical antiseptic, for patients who needed ventilators or had received tracheostomies, surgical procedures on the neck to open a direct airway through an incision in the trachea, or windpipe.

* Saint Al's also prevented medication errors, infections and other complications that start at the hospital through a program being implemented nationwide.

The three other winners were St. Luke's in Twin Falls, St. Luke's in Ketchum and Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello.

Medicare contracts with health care quality improvement organizations in each state to help make sure patients get the best possible care. Qualis is the agency working in Idaho.

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