Sharing how Driscoll about Quality is our commitment to you

National Patient Safety Goals 2010

• Improve the accuracy of patient identification.
• Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers.
• Improve the safety of using medications.
• Reduce the risk of health care-associated infections.
• Accurately and completely reconcile medications across the continuum of care.
• Reduce the risk of patient harm resulting from falls.
• Prevent health care-associated pressure ulcers.
• The organization identifies safety risks inherent in its patient population.

Advocacy for Children
Driscoll Children's Hospital partners with organizations and other hospitals to work together and to improve health care for children across the state and the nation. We are partners with:

Child Health Corporation of America (CHCA)

Children's Hospital Association of Texas

National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI)

Driscoll has been voted as the Best Place to Work by the employees for 3 years in a row.

Quality Texas Foundation Award
The foundation annually recognizes organizations in Texas that exhibit "...strong dedication to quality and high performance." According to the foundation, Driscoll earned the award because the hospital "Demonstrates good performance and commitment to a systematic approach to organizational management and performance improvement." These awards are given to organizations in Texas who are on the journey to the achievement of world class performance excellence. The award is based on the Malcolm Baldrige criteria, which reflect validated, leading-edge management practices against which an organization can measure itself.

Best Doctors in America®
Nine Doctors with privileges to practice at our hospital have been awarded "Best Doctors in America®" recognition. Many of them have academic affiliations.

William R. Allen	Gregory Guthrie	Patricia Ramsay
Ernest D. Buck	Mary D. Peterson	William J. Reed
Jaime E. Fergie	Stephen W. Ponder	Bruce Taylor

Background on Best Doctors®
Best Doctors® was founded in 1989 by doctors affiliated with Harvard University School of Medicine, and is considered one of the most respected and comprehensive knowledge-based medical referral services. Its worldwide database of 50,000 top medical specialists in more than 400 subspecialties is based on an exhaustive peer-review evaluation of the medical profession. The polling process is anonymous and confidential, qualitative and quantitative - a process that requires that every listed physician be re-evaluated with each new survey.

The Medal of Honor for Organ Donation
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is focusing efforts on reducing the gap between potential organ donors and needy recipients. The principle aim of this effort is to encourage hospitals to achieve and maintain organ donor conversion rates exceeding 75% or higher of eligible donors. HRSA sponsors an Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative. The Medal of Honor for Organ Donation: Recognizes organizations that have raised their donation rates to 75% or higher of eligible donors for the past 12 months.

Center of Excellence
Our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit continues to offer the highest quality of care and in 2009 continues to be chosen as a Center of Neonatal Excellence by the OptumHealth Neonatal Centers of Excellence network.

Children's Asthma Care (CAC) Core Measures
In April 2007, Joint Commission introduced the first pediatric core measure - Children’s Asthma Care. Its purpose is to measure the quality of care provided against evidence based standards. This is done in such a way that care provided by participating hospitals across the nation can be compared. Children ages 2 through 17 are included in this program.

Process Improvement Goals
Driscoll is always trying to improve on the quality of care for our patients. We form teams to work on special projects with goals to improve our care. Two of our goals are:

• EPIC Electronic Medical Record
• Pressure Ulcers

Rapid Response Team
Driscoll Children’s Hospital has formed a speciallly trained team to respond to changes in a patient’s condition. Any staff or family member can activate this team. Staff are trained to detect early warning signs that a patient’s condition is deteriorating. This process has decreased our cardiac arrests in non-acute areas to zero.

Renal Transplants
Driscoll is proud to offer this service to the children of South Texas. This program has celebrated its second year anniversary with 100% survival rate of both kidney and patient. The average length of stay for a renal transplant admission is 5.9 days compared to the national standard of 12 days.

Clara Driscoll wanted to be sure that the children of Corpus Christi and South Texas would be cared for as close to their home as possible. To honor her wishes, Driscoll Children’s Hospital provides specialists for children in all the areas we serve. Driscoll Children’s Hospital provides care for all children even though they may not be able to pay. During 2008, Driscoll provided $4.9 million dollars in charity care for children.