New River Medical Center received the Gold Award from the American Heart Association for maintaining Clinical Performance Heart Failure Measures. This recognition signifies that New River Medical Center has maintained 85 percent and higher in all the elements for Heart Failure Measures for a two-year period.
Clinical Performance Heart Failure Measures are derived from practice guidelines and are intended to provide hospital staff with tools for measuring the quality of care they provide by defining specific, measurable elements of care for heart failure patients. By establishing the Clinical Performance Heart Failure Measures it provides our clinical staff the guidelines to utilize a more unified approach to nursing management.
“We participate in the Clinical Performance Heart Failure Measures to provide our patients with the tools that empower them to improve and maintain their overall well-being,” said Lisa Hiltz, RN, Director of Inpatient Services.
The Clinical Performance Heart Failure Measures outline standards for up-to-date adult immunizations, diet, weight management, smoking cessation, follow-up visits with primary care providers, implementing protocols to reduce heart attacks and improving future health of patients. The goal of the program is health maintenance and prevention and finding preventative measures that improve overall health of the patient.
“Much of our success in this program is due in part to the diligence and ownership of this program by our Clinical Quality Abstractor, Mary Zachman,” said Hiltz. Zachman plays a pivotal role in ensuring that Clinical Performance measures for quality patient care are being met every day.
New River Medical Center will be recognized in “America’s Best Hospitals” issue of US News & World Report in July 2009.
