For Immediate Release

For more information, contact:
Calli Olson, 507-977-2330

Owatonna Hospital reports zero adverse health events in the past year

OWATONNA, Minn. 01/19/2012--The Minnesota Department of Health released its eighth annual Adverse Health Events Report today. Owatonna Hospital has zero events listed in the report. Over the past two years, we’ve taken many steps to improve our systems and processes so that we continually deliver safer health care. Each year, we’ve pushed further to find more opportunities to improve patient care. For example:

• Bedside barcoding—to address the problem of medication errors, in order to improve patient safety. Now, medication administration is done more efficiently and effectively, ensuring that the right dose of the right drug is given to the right patient at the right time. “It has increased the amount of data we are receiving, which makes it easier for us to evaluate errors and possibly prevent adverse health events from ever happening,” said Jeff Bouman, inpatient pharmacy manager.
• Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB)—to address the problem of patient falls, in order to improve patient safety and patient care. Nurse servers were used to decrease the amount of time nurses were spending away from the bedside. Through TCAB, falls decreased by 50 percent and nurses were able to spend more time at the bedside, doing assessments and gathering more information. “TCAB has empowered employees to make decisions that affect their work and by finding efficiencies, we have greatly improved patient safety,” said Craig Rosfjord, patient care manager.
• Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP)—to improve surgical care by reducing surgical complications. Through best of practice standards, the patient has the highest quality of care. Each year, our optimal care has significantly improved. “Owatonna Hospital has worked very hard to make sure we have solid processes in place so that each measure is met on every surgical patient; we’ve really created a culture of safety and trust for our patients,” said Bea Oberg, Quality/Risk manager.

These are just a few of the ways we are raising the bar on ourselves thanks to the dedication and hard work of our doctors, nurses and all our employees. We are using what we learn from reporting to find new ways to make care better and safer and it’s working.

“One adverse health event is one too many,” said Dave Albrecht, Owatonna Hospital president. “Our employees dedicate themselves every day to improving patient care, quality and safety.”

While the total number of adverse events reported by Minnesota hospitals is up slightly, this year hospitals had the lowest aggregate level of reported harm since reporting was expanded in 2007. Because the purpose of the reporting system is to uncover how we can continually improve, success is not just a lower number, it is a higher bar.

For more information about this, contact David Kanihan, director of Marketing & Communications, at 612-262-4986.

About Owatonna Hospital

Part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, Owatonna Hospital is a not-for-profit hospital committed to providing exceptional care and improving the health of the communities it serves in and around Steele County. Owatonna Hospital provides a full range of health care services including a birth center, emergency care, surgery and rehabilitation. Allina has built a replacement hospital in Owatonna, off Interstate 35.