Cooley Dickinson Hospital is guided by its mission, vision and values:
Mission
To serve our patients and communities with exceptional, compassionate, and personalized care.
Vision
To be the healthcare provider of choice in western Massachusetts, offering exceptional quality care, elevating the patient experience, and attracting and retaining the best talent, by combining the highest quality of community healthcare with the world
class medical expertise of Mass General Brigham.
Values
Uphold Quality
We believe in a constant focus on quality and safety, never settling, always improving.
Demonstrate Compassion
We believe in showing genuine concern for our patients, families, and colleagues. It’s more than what we do – it’s who we are.
Foster Collaboration
We believe in teamwork, partnering with our patients, families, communities, and each other. We listen and communicate clearly and openly.
Show Respect
We believe in embracing diversity, understanding differences and striving for health equity. We value all our patients, families, co-workers, and community members, and treat each with dignity.
Act with Integrity
We believe in holding ourselves and each other to a high ethical standard, always doing the right thing in service of our patients and communities.
Quality Initiatives for Fall Prevention and Pressure Ulcer Care at Cooley Dickinson Hospital
Upon admission, all patients are assessed for their risk for falling. Based on that level of risk, fall prevention measures are immediately put in place.
These measures include but are not limited to ongoing falls assessment on each shift through discharge and high-risk patient identification, including room signage, unique colored socks and bed and chair alarms, which will alert staff that a high risk patient is attempting to ambulate without supervision.
In the most high-risk patients, the hospital will assign a patient observer to sit with the patient around the clock to ensure their safety. All members of the healthcare team are responsible for falls prevention and receive annual mandatory training to ensure competency. Every fall is reviewed in real time with escalation to the Quality and Risk Department as well as reported to the Chief Nursing Officer.
The falls committee is comprised of representatives from various services including nursing, education, rehabilitation, and senior leadership. This working group meets monthly to review any falls from the previous month, identify trends, evaluate new or existing falls prevention products or services and to continually review and refine our processes around keeping our patients safe.
Like falls prevention, our patients are assessed multiple times throughout each day to assess skin integrity, this to improve the condition of those who may be compromised and to prevent skin breakdown from occurring at all. Measures that promote healthy skin integrity include regular ambulation and position and turning while in bed, skin care products including skin barrier creams that prevent breakdown, the use of specialty mattresses to minimize skin pressure and the utilization of our wound care nurses for those at the highest risk.
A multidisciplinary Skin Savers Team with representatives from all units meets monthly to ensure we follow best practices for pressure ulcers. The mission of the Skin Saver team is to promote staff competency in preventing and treating pressure ulcers by utilizing evidenced- based practice to improve patient outcomes along the continuum of care. The Cooley Dickinson team also participates in quarterly NDNQI Pressure Ulcer Prevalence studies to assess current state and to identify trends. This multidisciplinary team includes representative from nursing, infection prevention and education, and includes a physician champion.
In the spirit of continuous learning, we review all pressure ulcers, hospital-acquired infections and falls. Once completed, we share lessons learned and make process changes if needed.
About Cooley Dickinson Hospital
Cooley Dickinson Hospital (cooleydickinson.org) is a not-for-profit, acute care hospital that offers community-based programs and services in Northampton, Massachusetts. A member of the Mass General Brigham System, Cooley Dickinson has been advancing the health of people in the Pioneer Valley since 1886. The organization includes community-based primary care and specialty practices in Hampshire and Southern Franklin counties, and a VNA & Hospice program that provides home health and hospice nursing and rehabilitation visits. We are committed to serving our patients and communities with exceptional, compassionate, and personalized care.
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| 11 August 2023 |
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