Excela Westmoreland receives statewide recognition for patient safety

Excela Westmoreland Hospital is one of 21 hospitals across Pennsylvania to be honored through the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania’s annual Excellence in Patient Safety Recognition program.

The program, which started three years ago, celebrates top-performing hospitals with low rates of health care associated infections, such as central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections and other infections. The 2022 honorees were selected based on their performance during 2021.

Of the hospitals recognized, Excela Westmoreland is one of three in the region to be selected. Two UPMC hospitals, UPMC Bedford and UPMC Somerset, also were named. Excela also received this recognition in 2019, when the program began.

“This recognition is a true testament to the hard work and dedication from all of our health care workers,” said Kathleen Dohey, Excela Health’s director of clinical outcomes. “We set our target metrics high and continue to pursue zero health care infections during these challenging times.”

The hospital system is required to send data to the state and federal level, into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Healthcare Safety Network, for health care-acquired infections, she said.

“They compare our info with state and national level data,” she said. “In this instance, we were highlighted because our results and our findings were better than some of those across the state. In a nutshell, a high performer.”

Excela’s whole team is involved in protocols to avoid infections, Dohey added.

“Whether it’s medical staff, nursing, or pharmacy, everybody across the spectrum works together to implement best practices,” she said.

The hospital works to leave devices such as catheters and IVs in for as short a period of time as possible, she said, as many hospital-borne illnesses come from situations where patients have a line inserted into their bodies.

“Our primary goal is to get those types of devices out as soon as we can,” she said.

Excela also creates “standard work,” or a standard procedure for everyone to follow when treating a patient with particular conditions or in a particular situation, she said.

“Everybody does the same thing to care for lines, or care for individuals, so we can avoid them getting infections, whether it is treatment protocols or actual protocols to provide,” she said.

Dohey said the recognition spotlighted the hard work of the whole team.

“It’s a difficult, challenging time right now, even post-pandemic, so for us to hold together with health care and provide the best care possible, we strive to do it every day,” she said.