Two Baylor Medical Center at Garland Teams Earn Quality Awards

Contact: Susan Hall, 214-820-1817
Email: susanh@baylorhealth.edu

(GARLAND, TEXAS - Nov. 14, 2007) - In the first Baylor Health Care System (BHCS) Quality Improvement Summit competition, two teams from Baylor Medical Center at Garland received second place awards. Each team presented their projects to the Baylor Health Care System board of trustees at the board's annual fall retreat.

"Giving quality care in every aspect of health care at Baylor Garland is part of Baylor's vision," says Jim Thaxton, president, Baylor Garland. "This awards competition highlighted the outstanding work done at Baylor Garland and elsewhere."

The juried competition rewarded multidisciplinary teams for their efforts to improve quality at any Baylor facility or entity. Team members received cash prizes for their efforts in addition to recognition by the BHCS board of trustees. The two winning Garland teams were lead by Kelli Oldham, R.N., telemetry unit, and Lyn Fair, director, health information management, Baylor Garland.

The project led by Lyn Fair improved the communication between physicians, medical record coders and patient care coordinators in accurately documenting the true severity of Baylor Garland patients' illnesses. The team led by Kelli Oldham, R.N., analyzed how pain management education for inpatients was currently handled and led to an improved process for controlling patient pain through medications or alternative therapies.

"The award program is in keeping with Baylor's goal of recognizing and rewarding top performers in all areas," says Jean Baker, corporate director, health care improvement, BHCS. "The purpose of the quality improvement awards is to recognize the great work being done by people throughout Baylor."

Modeled after other national health care system and industries, the Baylor quality improvement awards judged the work of a BHCS multidisciplinary team that best demonstrated a sustainable improvement in a process or outcome that aligns with and supports BHCS goals of customer service, finance, people and quality.

Earlier this year, Baylor Garland received the 2007 VHA Leadership Award for Clinical Excellence, which honored health care organizations that had differentiated themselves around national performance standards by achieving performance at the 90 percent or above level on clinical core measures. Baylor Garland received this award for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) treatment and surgical infection prevention.

Baylor Medical Center at Garland, located in the heart of the Garland community, continues to grow and reflect the medical needs of its residents. The hospital offers advanced medical technology in heart and vascular care, neurosurgery, breast health, women's services, neonatal intensive care, digestive disease, medical imaging, senior health care, and physical medicine and rehabilitation on its smoke-free campus. Baylor Garland now serves the communities of Garland, Wylie, Richardson, Rowlett, Rockwall, Sachse, Mesquite and Murphy.

For fiscal year 2007, Baylor Health Care System will report $390 million in community benefits to the Department of State Health Services.