by sfredenburg | Jul 19, 2019 | Care Coordination, Diabetes Care, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Medication Safety
Good habits are hard to form and bad habits are hard to break. Even with a strong motive, basic lifestyle changes are a challenge for most people. Individuals newly diagnosed with diabetes face the added layer of monitoring blood sugar levels and/or managing...
by sfredenburg | Jul 9, 2019 | Care Coordination, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Hospitals
In collaboration with the Indian Health Service (IHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Partnership to Advance Tribal Health (PATH) project work is supporting improvement efforts with care transitions for certified hospitals providing...
by sfredenburg | Jun 18, 2019 | Diabetes Care, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Success Story
Forgetting to take out the trash and dealing with the odor for an extra week, especially during the hot summer months, is never pleasant. Still, it is temporary, and the minor oversight increases our appreciation for waste management. In the body, the waste...
by sfredenburg | Jun 11, 2019 | Care Coordination, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Success Story
The passion of one person can truly have an impact. A director of nursing in a small town in South Dakota saw a need to improve dementia care and her efforts led to a statewide training spanning three communities and reaching almost 300 healthcare professionals....
by sfredenburg | May 30, 2019 | Antibiotic Stewardship, Care Coordination, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Healthcare-Associated Infections, Home Health
Relating to different points of view is a valuable personal and professional skill, especially in the healthcare industry. In her 30 years of nursing, Cheri Fast, RN, BSN, WOCN, has certainly developed a strong understanding of the challenges and rewards of positive...
by sfredenburg | May 16, 2019 | Featured, Great Plains QIN, Healthcare Acquired Conditions in Nursing Homes, Success Story
Avera Eureka Health Care Center (Avera Eureka) has achieved the monthly National Nursing Home Quality Care Collaborative (NHQCC) Quality Measure Composite Score goal of 6.0 or less for the past 30 months. Achieving this monthly score is significant as only 10% of the...
by sfredenburg | May 15, 2019 | Care Coordination, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Healthcare-Associated Infections, Public Observances, Sepsis, Success Story
Residents of rural and frontier areas rely on local Emergency Medical Services (EMS) professionals and volunteers to provide life-saving care when time is of the essence. These first responders become the faces and voices for those in healthcare crisis. In addition...
by sfredenburg | May 14, 2019 | Care Coordination, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Hospitals
Just Culture is a clear and easy-to-use healthcare quality tool used to manage risk and prevent adverse events. Leaders use the system to determine if an action was a simple human error, a risky choice or a reckless choice and how that behavior or choice...
by sfredenburg | May 7, 2019 | Featured, Great Plains QIN, Medication Safety
The misuse of prescribed and non-prescribed opioids has led to a rise in deaths and created a ripple effect for increased hospitalization and healthcare costs. Although education, resources, and policies have been developed for prescribing opioid medication,...
by sfredenburg | Apr 29, 2019 | Cardiac Care, Care Coordination, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Meaningful Use
Strokes are happening at younger ages and statistics show increasing rates for the 45-64 age group. High blood pressure is one of the risk factors for stroke, along with high cholesterol, obesity and diabetes. Given the connection, National Stroke Awareness and...
by sfredenburg | Apr 23, 2019 | Featured, Great Plains QIN, Healthcare Acquired Conditions in Nursing Homes, Home Health, Success Story
Several residents at Platte Health Care Avera are enjoying the benefits of individualized music playlists thanks to the Music & Memory ® South Dakota program. The program can assist in many areas including decreased use of anti-psychotic medications and depression...
by sfredenburg | Apr 16, 2019 | Care Coordination, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Hospitals, Public Observances
Healthcare is personal. Any individual in need of healthcare services becomes vulnerable. The level of comfort and confidence relayed by healthcare professionals at every stage of care can impact positive health outcomes. Long waits, big words and confusing bills...
