Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing has received a pilot grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Quality and Safety Education Nurses Program (QSEN) to create and implement an innovative quality and safety curriculum.
"This nation is facing a crisis in health care quality and safety," said Marla Salmon, Sc.D., RN, dean and professor of Emory's nursing school. "Nurses are uniquely well-positioned to ensure that patients receive care that is safe and effective."
Aimed at fostering revolutionary changes in the education of nurses across the nation, "the QSEN program is setting the stage for nurses to play even more central roles in providing safe and positive care experiences for patients and their families," Salmon said. "We are honored to have been selected among the leading schools of nursing nationally for this important work."
PA-C AWARD: Todd F. Hatcher, EMT-P/PA-C, was named the 2007 Georgia Rural Physician Assistant-Certified of the Year by the Georgia Association of Physician Assistants. Hatcher received the award at the GAPA's conference in July.
Hatcher has worked as a physician assistant-certified at Ellaville Internal Medicine Center — an arm of Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus — since 2005. He has been with Sumter Regional Hospital since 1994.
MOST WIRED: Three Georgia hospitals were named to Hospitals and Health Networks magazine's 100 Most Wired hospitals in 2007: Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, Piedmont Fayette Hospital in Fayetteville and Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah.
The survey is conducted annually to assess how hospitals use information technologies. The hospitals are rated in four areas: mortality rates, patient safety measures, core measures of hospital quality and average length of stay.
STROKE PROGRAM HONORED: The American Heart Association recently presented the St. Joseph's Hospital stroke program with dual achievement awards for performance and quality. The Get With the Guidelines Stroke Performance Achievement Awards were in recognition of St. Joseph's sustained compliance in seven core stroke measures.
"This is another successful patient safety and quality program at St. Joseph's," said Debbie Camp, RN, stroke coordinator. "We're committed to providing stroke patients the best care that is aligned with the latest scientific guidelines."
TOP VACCINATION PROGRAM: The American Nurses Association recognized Emory Healthcare as having one of the top seasonal influenza vaccination programs for health care professionals in 2006-07. The recognition program identifies organizations that have the best success stories for increasing the seasonal influenza vaccination rates of their employees.
"Not only is vaccination against the flu one of the easiest things a health care professional can do to protect themselves, their families and our patients, it is also absolutely the right thing to do," said John Fox, CEO of Emory Healthcare.
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