one of a kind care - Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics

As one of the first
children’s hospitals
to join the Institute
for Healthcare
Improvement’s 100,000 Lives
Campaign, Children’s Mercy again
shows its strong commitment to
quality. This campaign, aimed
at saving 100,000 patient lives
in just 18 months by improving
health care nationwide, brings
together hospitals dedicated to
doing their best to make health
care as safe and effective as
possible.
Children’s Mercy officially joined
the program in 2005, but our
quality improvement efforts have
a long history.
are prepared
to respond
in minutes
when there is
even a subtle
indication
that a
patient’s
condition is
concerning.
Instead of taking a wait-and-see
attitude, the Rapid Response
Team approach empowers anyone
on the health care team to call for
help if they suspect the patient
isn’t responding to treatment
like he should or is in any way in
declining health.
Commission on Accreditation
of Healthcare Organizations,
Children’s Mercy received stellar
marks for meeting all of the
National Patient Safety Goals. The
goals include: improving effective
communication, reducing
infections, infusion pump safety
and others. Children’s Mercy
One of our major efforts in
2005 – part of the 100,000
Lives initiative and the Institute
of Medicine’s “Six Aims” to
improve health care – was
the development of Rapid
Response Teams. These teams
quality
The Rapid Response Teams are
an example of a program that
touches on many of the Six Aims
of quality improvement set forth
by the IOM: Safety, Effective,
Timely, Efficient, Equitable and
Patient Centered.
So effective are our quality
programs that during the
2005 visit by the Joint
received full accreditation
with no recommendations for
improvements, our highest
ranking ever.
While we have made great strides
in providing safe and effective
health care for all children, we will
never finish. Quality improvement
is a process, one that motivates
and inspires us each day.
Above:
Brad Bishop, MD, Hospitalist
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