Left to right: Dr. Paul Koranne, President and CEO of MHA, Lori Johnson, Chair of MHA’s Quality and Safety Committee and Vice President of Performance Improvement and Safety at Hennepin Healthcare, and Carla Zupko, Chief Nursing Officer, Riverwood
In mid-May, the Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA) awarded Riverwood Healthcare Center with the High Reliability Organization Award. This award was presented at a conference in Minneapolis where MHA presented awards to 40 hospital and health system teams and individuals across Minnesota.
The High Reliability Organization Award recognizes efforts to improve quality and safety. With an overriding objective for “zero harm” Riverwood employees are strongly committed to achieving safety, quality, and efficiency goals.
Chief Nursing Officer Carla Zupko, who accepted the award for Riverwood, comments: “This statewide recognition is a tribute to the progress our organization has made over the past few years. Riverwood has made significant strides in improving quality and safety for our patients as we strive for zero harm.”
Some examples include the distribution of key safety measures communicated through monthly talking points for all staff members, regular team discussions on safety issues, and the use of a quality dashboard to help identify and guide areas for improvement.
Zupko adds: “We rolled out an eight-step continuous process improvement model and our staff completed more than 19 facilitated CPI events in the past two years to help departments streamline processes, eliminate waste and increase safety.”