Quality and Patient Safety Connecticut Children’s is dedicated to providing the highest quality care in the safest manner to our patients. We collaborate with healthcare professionals across the organization on many quality improvement projects that are leading to better outcomes for our patients. Quality Purpose: Connecticut Children’s is committed to partnering with patients, families, and communities using evidence-based models marching towards zero-harm, highest quality, world-class outcomes in a culture based on equity, continual improvement and compassionate care. Patient Matching is our Safety Absolute At Connecticut Children’s all team members for each and every patient encounter use two patient identifiers’ (patient name and date of birth or medical record number) to verify the correct patient. This will occur many times a day during the patient’s stay. We are committed to zero preventable harm. Daily Safety Check-In As a part of our effort to provide the safest, highest quality healthcare possible, all hospital leaders at Connecticut Children’s attend daily safety meetings where they can report any current or potential safety issues. This meeting brings together leadership, including nurses, physicians, administrators and others, all centered on doing what is best for our patients and families. Safety Starts With Me Connecticut Children’s is dedicated to creating a culture of safety by reducing errors, and preventing the occurrence of serious safety events that can harm patients and employees. Every employee completes safety training which includes strategies to reduce harm and safety events. We follow a high reliability leadership method and safety is our core value. A few examples of a high reliability method include the following: (1) Senior leadership rounding throughout the organization; and (2) Operational leadership rounding which utilizes a standard script to create a process for tracking critical safety issues. Hospital Acquired Conditions Hospital-Acquired Conditions (HACs) are conditions that a patient develops in the hospital when being treated for a different condition. Connecticut Children’s participates in the Solutions for Patient Safety Collaborative which is a group of 140+ children’s hospitals working together with the focus of how we can prevent harm in hospitals. The collaborative has many initiatives in which Connecticut Children’s participates. Some examples of these initiatives include: Central-Line Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSI), Cauti-Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI), Falls, Pressure Injuries, Adverse Drug Events (ADE), Readmissions, Unplanned Extubations, Surgical Site Infections (SSI). We track data and follow bundles of care which are evidence-based and following them is shown to decrease certain types of hospital acquired conditions. A bundle is a structured way of improving the processes of care and patient outcomes and when performed collectively and reliably, have been proven to improve patient outcomes.
