Keep Up with Us
CHI Mercy Health has a Facebook page and Twitter account. You can keep up with what’s going on at the hospital and foundation during the month, and log on to find out about any weather-related notices or health concerns for our patients.
Go to Facebook, CHI Mercy Health, “Like” us, and follow us on Twitter, @CHIMercyVCND, and keep up with what’s happening with the Mercy community–your community.
Patients and families provide an important voice
Acting on national research that suggests patients and families can help hospitals improve safety and the patient experience, CHI Mercy Health has a Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC).
“Our goal is to partner with patients and families, along with staff from our hospital, to identify practices, policies and safety initiatives that will benefit from patient and family input,” said Stephanie Kruta, BSN, MSN, OR manager and PFAC lead. “While patient satisfaction, safety and quality have always been a focus, the Patient & Family Advisory council helps us better understand what’s important to patients and their families to contribute to improved care.”
The CHI Mercy Health Patient & Family Advisory Council meets quarterly, the advisory council works hand-in-hand with staff and administrators to bring about changes that make the care experience better for patients and their families.
Nationally, patient and family advisory councils have brought about helpful changes. Since its conception in 2011, CHI Mercy Health’s Patient & Family Advisory Council has helped form a new patient directory, develops menu choices and provided guidance around communication on medications.
If you are interested in learning more about CHI Mercy Health’s Patient & Family Advisory Council or would like to consider volunteering on the council, please contact Alana Wendel, ER Manager at 701-845-6400.
We’re listening. Learn how you may be able to help us make care better.
Safety First Inspires New Safety Culture at CHI Mercy Health
Mistakes happen. But at CHI Mercy Health, work is under way to eliminate mistakes that harm patients.
SafetyFirst is a multi-faceted program that will strengthen the organization’s commitment to always put patient, employee and medical staff safety first. This initiative helps CHI Mercy Health instill a new safety culture and reach its goal of zero safety errors that harm patients.
Employees and members of CHI Mercy Health’s medical staff participated in safety and error-prevention training learning behaviors proven to significantly reduce the number of safety errors in other health care organizations. Doctors and nurses at CHI Mercy Health have already adopted techniques used by “highly reliable” industries, such as naval and commercial aviation, and nuclear power. Some of these SafetyFirst techniques include: daily check in, safety coaches and mandatory education on SafetyFirst techniques for all new employees to CHI Mercy Health. Daily check in occurs Monday thru Friday and involve one member from each department of the hospital. At this morning huddle, each person reports on any safety concerns for staff or patients. This allows all departments to know if the concern is of value to their department and allows for managers to take away issues to make changes to help prevent safety related concerns. Safety coaches received additional training in SafetyFirst coaching and are involved with not only direct observations of care and SafetyFirst techniques but also in coaching and encouraging staff to use the tools that they have learned. The coaches meet monthly to talk about concerns and receive feedback and guidance in handling various opportunities to coach staff in safety techniques.
SafetyFirst is a national strategy coordinated by Catholic health Initiatives (CHI), CHI Mercy Health’s parent organization. CHI will continue to implement and optimize SafetyFirst over the next few years.
CHI Mercy Health Gaining, Losing Under ER Plan
Valley City’s CHI Mercy Health is losing all its physicians assistants at the same time it has reached an arrangement so that a physician will be in the building at all times to ensure full care in the Emergency Room, said Keith Heuser, hospital administrator, Tuesday. Continue Reading on Valley City Times Record Online
CHI Mercy Health Laboratory Updates Equipment
The CHI Mercy Health Laboratory has recently upgraded several analyzers used to perform medical testing. The “workhorse” of the department is the new Siemens Dimension EXL 200, which performs many chemistry tests twice as fast as the previous model. Everything from blood sugar (Glucose) to thyroid (TSH) to diagnostic testing for heart attacks (Troponin-I), the EXL 200 does it all!
Another upgrade to improve turn-around-time for faster test results is the Abbott I-stat. This analyzer performs lab tests on a small amount of blood in a very small timeframe. For example, patients who arrive in the Emergency Room for heart attacks, strokes or major accidents can report lab results quickly to help the provider determine the diagnosis or treatment in real time.
We are proud to serve our patients and community for your fast, accurate and reliable lab testing, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! All you need is an order for Lab testing from your provider to have your blood drawn at Mercy Hospital. Please contact the Laboratory at 701-845-6447 with any questions.