Quality is Key

5 ways Baylor Irving strives to provide quality care.

Baylor Irving is always working toward being the best health care choice for the people in the community. Susan Shipp, director of health care improvement, explains a few of the steps the medical center is taking toward continually improving health care.

1. Playing by the rules. There are various regulations and requirements for hospitals—Joint Commission, Medicare, Medicaid. The teams at Baylor Irving work hard not just to meet—but to exceed—these rules.

2. Winning awards. “The proof is in the pudding,” Shipp says. “We won two awards in the past year.” Baylor Irving received a Texas Medical Foundation award of excellence for its high quality scores and a VHA (Veterans Health Administration) award for quality scores as well.

3. Saving lives. Three years ago, Baylor Irving started taking part in a national program designed to save 100,000 lives. One initiative is called Rapid Response Team (RRT). The RRT helps identify patients whose health might be deteriorating to treat them as quickly as possible. Anyone in the hospital can call for help for any patient in need, and the response team includes a critical care nurse and a respiratory therapist ready to help. The program has been very successful, and Baylor Irving is now participating in a national campaign to save 5 million lives from harm.

4. Helping people heal. Pressure ulcers can be a problem for people who are hospitalized. The critical care unit staff at Baylor Irving is educating staff and physicians on observation and documentation. “We’ve reduced pressure ulcers signifi cantly just by concentrating on education, observation and documentation,” Shipp says.

5. Staving off infection. Staph infections such as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) have been grabbing headlines lately. But at Baylor Irving, hospital-acquired MRSA levels have dropped thanks to an initiative that includes the implementation of a bundle of components designed to reduce the infection overall.

By Stephanie Thurrott

For a referral to a physician on the medical staff at Baylor Irving, call 1-800-4BAYLOR or use our on-line physician directory.