Quality and Clinical Excellence

Healthcare That Is Safe

Mistakes, errors, and incidents that nearly became errors. Dont talk about them, quietly report them, fix them over time. Thats the past.

Create an entire hospital culture around preventing errors —talk about them openly, report them, fix them immediately, become a national model for patient safety. This is the present and the future. Bold problems require bold solutions. Columbia St. Mary's medical staff, leadership team and staff have joined forces to create the safest hospital in the Midwest.

Were creating a culture where everyone from the operating room staff to the receptionist in the lobby has patient safety on the forefront of their mind.

"If a patient anywhere in the hospital
is suddenly in trouble we're able to
respond immediately."

—Kathie Muhle, RN—

Families are partners in care. When a recent patient was in respiratory distress, her daughter called 2222 - the phone number for the hospital's Rapid Response Team (RRT) - who rushed to her aid. Katie Muhle, an RN in the Intensive Care Unit, was involved with this and other RRT calls. Signs are posted in all patient rooms with the RRT number. Linked beepers alert the team members simultaneously.

Wendy Wise, RN, and Mark Shteyn, PCA, showcase a state-of-the-art patient room within the new ICU at Columbia St. Mary's Hospital Ozaukee. The rooms include large windows overlooking the wetlands, family areas, improved work space for caregivers and offer advanced technology and equipment such as bed lifts, computerized charting and easier access to medical equipment. The environment, together with the organization’s commitment to preventing medical errors, establishes a comprehensive culture of safety for patients.

Patient Guiding Principles

Keep me safe. From a patient's perspective it's really that simple. They know that, unfortunately, despite the best intentions of highly-skilled professionals within the complex hospital environment, things can go wrong.

Heal me. Patients expect that healthcare leaders, physicians and staff know what they're doing – that they have the knowledge, research and skills to treat them while providing exceptional comfort and care.

Be nice to me. Treat patients with care, dignity and respect. From a patient’s point of view, it should be very straightforward. Explain to me what you’re planning for my care and treat me the way you would want to be treated.

These three guiding principles are the core of Columbia St. Mary's efforts to establish a comprehensive culture of safety for our patients. Borrowing innovative strategies from other highly-complex industries — —aviation, nuclear power plants, and submarines – Columbia St. Mary's has as its goal to be the safest health system in the Midwest and the nation.

We're not content with the status quo and are committed to establishing a culture preoccupied with preventing failure. Being constantly aware of what could go wrong while simultaneously changing human behavior is the way to prevent errors from occurring in the first place. It's a novel strategy that is being shared with the entire Columbia St. Mary's organization — 5,600 employees and 1,200 medical staff.

The approach is unprecedented in health care. Columbia St. Mary's is leading the way to ensure that everyone, 365 days a year, has a role in providing the highest quality health care to our patients and their families.

From Rapid Response Teams to the Patient and Family Advisory Council to "time-outs" in the operating room and the design of our patient rooms, Columbia St. Mary's, in partnership with leading national strategists, is transforming how hospitals create a safe environment for patients.

"The members of the Patient and Family Advisory Council
are the voices of the patient experience."

—Tom Rampulla—

Shirley Stone, seated right, community liaison and chairperson of the Columbia St. Mary's 15-member Patient and Family Advisory Council, is pictured during a planning meeting at her home with Tom Rampulla, Director of Quality Measurement, Kari Cincotta, Patient Relations Coordinator, and Maria Hill, Executive Director of Clinical Excellence. Among their many projects, the Council is currently developing a new patient handbook and providing input on the new hospital building project.

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Quality and Clinical Excellence

"If a patient anywhere in the hospital is suddenly in trouble we're able to respond immediately." —Kathie Muhle, RN—

"The members of the Patient and Family Advisory Council are the voices of the patient experience." —Tom Rampulla—

"If a patient anywhere in the hospital
is suddenly in trouble we're able to
respond immediately."

—Kathie Muhle, RN—

"The members of the Patient and Family Advisory Council
are the voices of the patient experience."

—Tom Rampulla—