Hillcrest Hospital Claremore is committed to providing safe quality care to our community. Many efforts are taken to ensure safety for patients who entrust us with their care.
The elimination of hospital acquired infections has been a top priority. When patients are hospitalized their risk of acquiring an infection during that hospitalization increases. There are many factors that increase this risk; immunosuppression, chronic illness, older age, hospital length of stay, exposure to infectious pathogens, and use of devices like urinary catheters and IV as well as invasive procedures.
Although not all risks can be eliminated, we have adopted infection control strategies that make hospitalization safer for our patients. For many years we have had a strong infection control program, focused on reduction of infection risks, appropriate treatment for infections and environmental controls. Our infection control program has focused areas, based on our community and population.
Some of our top focus areas are:
- Decrease or elimination of catheter associated urinary tract infection also known as CAUTI
- Reduce the risk of acquiring C-diff (Clostridium difficile, an intestinal bacteria that can result in uncomfortable GI symptoms)
In comparison to local hospitals our size, we have lower infection rates than our competitors. In the last two years, we publicly reported only one (1) CAUTI and three (3) C. diff infections to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
These efforts take a commitment from physicians, hospital staff and leadership. Because of this commitment, we have ongoing initiatives to keep these numbers down. Some of these initiatives include reviewing and discussing at-risk patients in daily safety huddles, monitoring the use of antibiotics though our antibiotic stewardship program and educating patients and families to be a “Partner in Your Care.”
Thank you to the residents of our community for allowing us to serve you. Please know that we always focus on improving the care we provide for you and your family.
David Chaussard
CEO