’s
March 20, 2015 edition
The Pulse
Your regular check up on SCKMC activities Share your thoughts, story ideas, and comments by e-mail to claytonp@sckrmc.org.
SCKMC Named Among America’s Best Hospitals for ER Care
Lab Achieves Zero Deficiency Survey
Recent U.S. Department of Labor data reports women make approximately 80-percent of health care decisions for their families and are more likely to be the care givers when a family member falls ill. Now their opinions and experiences with healthcare have been used to determine the top hospitals in the Nation. South Central Kansas Medical Center is one of 15 hospitals in Kansas to receive the Women’s Choice Award® as America’s Best Hospitals for Emergency Care 2015. This is the second year in a row that SCKMC has received the award. The SCKMC Laboratory Department earned a "ZeroAccording to the Women’s Choice Award website, the Deficiency" certification last week during a Clinical Laboratory award is “a symbol of excellence in customer experience Improvement Amendments (CLIA) inspection. awarded by the collective voice of women. The Women’s CLIA regulates laboratory testing and requires clinical Choice Award allows women to choose with confidence, laboratories to be certificated by their state as well as the knowing that other women across America have tried and Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) every two experienced that brand or service and would highly years. A CLIA survey involves two inspectors in the laboratory recommend it to their family and friends.” for a full day, looking in depth at different aspects of the department's function including quality assurance, proficiency Top hospitals must consistently rank within the top 25% of testing, quality control, and documentation. This very all 3,600 hospitals reporting emergency department thorough inspection includes all areas within the lab performance to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (Hematology, Chemistry, Microbiology, Blood Bank, Services (CMS). The Women’s Choice Award weighs CMS Immunology, Urinalysis, Coagulation). scores obtained on seven publicly reported measures, such “A Zero-Deficiency survey is no easy task. We are very as total time a patient spends in the ER. Each measure is proud of our Laboratory Staff, who strive to run an outweighted based upon the priorities given by women surveyed standing department every day and who truly care about the by the Women’s Choice Award staff. patients that they serve,” said Carol Maxwell, SCKMC’s “Being recognized as a hospital of choice among women Manager of Core Ancillary Services. takes the commitment of leadership and staff and ongoing devotion to providing every patient with optimal care. These The Pharm Forum with Homer Mah, D.Ph. hospitals will serve as an example to all hospitals while This past month was American Heart setting new standards of healthcare excellence for women, Month. Uncontrolled hypertension is the their families and their community,” as per the Women’s leading cause of heart disease and stroke. Choice Awards website. People who have uncontrolled hypertension Awards are limited to hospitals which “demonstrate are four times as likely to die from a stroke exceptional ratings, providing the highest level of care and and three times likely to die from heart commitment to their patients’ health and well-being,” and disease when compared to people with normal blood receive high recommendation ratings on patient satisfaction pressure. surveys. Often hypertension does not present with any signs or “I’ve always felt like we have had a great department down symptoms. Your gender, race, ethnicity, and where you live here. They’re very smart, skilled, and knowledgeable. can increase your risk of developing heart disease. Make it a Something like this makes me feel proud,” said Bonnie life goal to lower your risk of heart disease. Speak to your Schieber, SCKMC’s Emergency Department Manager. (To health care provider for more information win the award) is very impressive. “I’m very glad that we can show the community an award like this.” For more news & updates like us on facebook: www.facebook.com/sckmc.
March is National Colon Cancer Awareness Month
Colon cancer is one of the most preventable and treatable forms of cancer, and screening is easy! Schedule your colonoscopy during National Colon Cancer Awareness Month in March and pay no physician fees for the procedure, plus receive a free prep kit. If you're over 50, high risk or symptomatic, don't put it off, call today.
Call Dr. Tyson Blatchford to discuss your colonoscopy, (620) 441-5796! *Physician’s fee waived for screening colonoscopies performed by Dr. Tyson Blatchford in March 2015 only. Discount does not apply to the required pre-procedure physician consultation, additional procedures, or other visits. Free prep kit provided during pre-procedure consultation. Some restrictions may apply.
Find out more about our services at www.sckmc.org