Hospital News
"Gear Up for Safety" with SafeKids Huntsville -- 05/07/08
As the lead agency for SafeKids Huntsville, Huntsville Hospital is pleased to present:
"Gear Up for Safety"
Saturday, May 10
10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Safety City, 2221 Drake Avenue
Join us for this free safety education fair for kids age 14 and under!
* Interactive displays
* Bicycle rodeo
* Big slide and moon bounce
* Firefighters, police officers and Kids Care ambulance
* Refreshments, games, giveaways and much more!
For more information, call 265-7288.
Huntsville Hospital celebrates Nurses Week -- 05/06/08
Each year, National Nurses Week begins on May 6 and ends on May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of nursing as a modern profession.
During National Nurses Week, Huntsville Hospital and its Medical Staff salute our nurses for their commitment and dedication. We thank you for bringing hope and compassion to our hospital.
Quick facts about Huntsville Hospital's 2,344 nurses:
· 2,137 registered nurses (RN)
· 172 licensed professional nurses (LPN)
· 35 nurse practitioners (NP)
Of these 2,344 nurses, 85 live in Tennessee, and 248 have more than 20 years of tenure at Huntsville Hospital. The nurse with the longest tenure is Rosa Powers, who celebrated the 47th anniversary of her employment last September.
Two more reasons to trust the Breast Center at Huntsville Hospital -- 04/25/08
The Breast Center at Huntsville Hospital, Alabama’s largest single-site mammography center with all-digital mammography and breast MRI, was recently recognized for its quality care and highly skilled personnel.
The American College of Radiology now recognizes breast-imaging centers with an “excellence” accreditation. The Breast Center at Huntsville Hospital is Alabama’s only facility to achieve this accreditation, which means it is fully accredited in mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy, breast ultrasound and ultrasound-guided breast biopsy.
In addition, for the ninth consecutive year, the Breast Center has earned a perfect score from the Food and Drug Administration for exceptional compliance with the Mammography Quality Standards Act.
The excellence accreditation and perfect score in mammography are evidence of the Breast Center’s dedication to meeting rigorous standards in regard to equipment/image quality, personnel qualifications and record keeping.
National Patient Satisfaction Survey Results Announced -- 04/04/08
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has published the initial results from the Hospital Consumer And Health Provider Survey, better known as HCAHPS. Huntsville Hospital is included in the recently released report. The survey is an effort to measure and compare patient satisfaction among U.S. hospitals. Hospital participation in HCAHPS is voluntary for 2008, but is mandatory beginning next year.
The HCAHPS survey focuses on major “experiences” of a hospital patient. Most of the survey questions measure the frequency that key positive behaviors were noted during the hospitalization.
The survey is conducted by CMS-approved survey companies who submit the data directly to CMS. Each hospital is compared to a state and national average score. The recently announced report reflects responses from patients who were hospitalized from October 2006 through June 2007. Updates to the survey will be made quarterly and are available for review and comparison at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov.
Huntsville Hospital met or exceeded the national average in 8 of 10 categories in the survey. Click here to review Huntsville Hospital’s results.
Huntsville Hospital Approved for Madison Hospital -- 03/19/08
Huntsville Hospital's application to build the Madison hospital was approved March 19 by the state Certificate of Need Review Board in Montgomery.
The CON board's decision confirms that Huntsville Hospital is the right choice to build the Madison hospital.
We are very excited for the people of Madison and western Madison County, and we look forward to building the 60-bed hospital in Madison Medical Park.
Unique IT solution at Huntsville Hospital improves information accessibility while maintaining security of patient data -- 03/14/08
Huntsville Hospital is the first health care organization in the Southeast to use virtualization technology for desktop and remote access solutions. The Information Technology Department has created an innovative solution to enhance the manageability and compliance of our desktop computing infrastructure.
Using virtualization technology and a blade center solution, the hospital’s IT department is upgrading 2,000 computers with electronic medical records capability without having to replace the computers or interrupt service. More importantly, this project will provide doctors and nurses in the surrounding community the ability to remotely-access centralized patient information from anywhere in the world via virtual desktops while maintaining the security of that data in compliance with HIPAA regulations. This project, expected to be completed in June, is the first of its kind in a healthcare setting in the Southeast.
Huntsville Hospital IT employees David Carlisle, Tony Wilburn and Shawn Scott recently starred in a national video to promote this new technology. The video is being aired on IBM.com.
Huntsville Hospital recognized for quality in stroke treatment -- 03/03/08
The American Stroke Association has awarded Huntsville Hospital its Get With The Guidelines –Stroke (GWTG-Stroke) Bronze Performance Achievement Award at the association’s International Stroke Conference 2008. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted standards and recommendations.
“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and this award addresses the important element of time,” said Peggy Matzkiw, CRNP, director of the surgical service line. Huntsville Hospital has developed a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the Emergency Department. This includes always being prepared to provide brain imaging scans, having neurologists available to conduct patient evaluations and using clot-busting medications when appropriate.
To receive the GWTG-Stroke Bronze Achievement Award, Huntsville Hospital consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the GWTG-Stroke Program. This involves aggressive use of medications like tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation.
“The time is right, and Huntsville Hospital is focused on improving the quality of stroke care and has implemented the GWTG-Stroke Program. The number of acute ischemic stroke patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing stroke incidence and a larger aging population,” said Matzkiw.
According to the American Stroke Association, each year approximately 780,000 people suffer a stroke. For 600,000 it is their first stroke, and 180,000 are recurrent. Of stroke survivors aged 49 and older, 21 percent of men and 24 percent of women die within a year. For those aged 70 and older, the mortalities are even higher.
Huntsville Hospital is a Primary Stroke Center certified by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. It is the only regional referral center in north Alabama and the state’s largest community-owned and governed, not-for-profit hospital serving a population of 1.5 million.
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