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How top hospitals achieved success

Quality Improvement Monitor, June 20, 2008

Engaged employees, happy patients, useful technology, and the right leadership philosophy are key to becoming a nationally recognized hospital, according to leaders at two Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award–winning facilities.

Since 1999, the Baldrige award recipients have included healthcare organizations that have achieved excellence in performance. Only one or two healthcare organizations are honored each year.

San Diego–based Sharp Healthcare is a 2007 recipient of the award.

“It doesn’t mean we’ve arrived; it means, basically, that we’re making progress and we’re going in the right direction,” says Nancy Pratt, senior vice president of clinical effectiveness at Sharp. Pratt says the process of applying for the award has helped Sharp define and live up to its mission, vision, and values.

“We’ve used the Baldrige feedback over the last four years to help us fine-tune and adjust and focus our efforts,” says Pratt. With the help of the Lean-Six Sigma performance improvement program, Sharp streamlines protocols to improve cycle time for processes such as door-to-balloon time, or the time from when a patient arrives in the ED to when the patient has a balloon inflated in the coronary artery.

Access the full story in the June issue of Quality Improvement Report; access is free for subscribers, nonsubscribers can purchase a copy of the story for $10.

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