Clarendon Memorial Hospital was one of 23 hospitals in the state that received a South Carolina Certified Zero Harm Award at a recent industry conference on Hilton Head Island.
Clarendon Health System Chief Executive Officer Richard Stokes said during Tuesday night's board meeting that the hospital took home awards for: zero harm in bloodstream infection, 18 months; and zero harm in surgical site infections for knee replacement, 18 months.
"So we're very proud to have qualified for two Zero Harm Awards," Stokes said. "It says a lot about the hospital and says even more about our nursing staff and our physician staff. Very, very good for our patients and our community."
The TAP Conference -- Trustee, Administrator, Physician -- was sponsored by the S.C. Hospital Association and the S.C. Medial Association.
"We were fortunate to have our entire board attend," Stokes said.
Zero Harm Awards recognize exemplary efforts in patient safety and specifically the elimination of preventable hospital-acquired infections over a period of time, according to the SCHA.
The SCHA sends applications for the awards to an infections epidemiologist with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control to validate independently the infection rate during the specified time frame, according to the SCHA.
According to remarks posted on the website of the S.C. Hospital Association, Rick Foster M.D., senior vice president for quality and patient safety at the association, said it's thrilling to see a growing number of hospitals in the sate achieve zero patient harm in the prevention of infections acquired at hospitals.
"This achievement by hospitals across our state provides strong evidence that our collective journey to high reliability is making care safer and better for every patient. I commend all the hospitals and their patient care teams that have achieved this high level of patient safety during the first year of our Certified Zero Harm Awards recognition program," Foster said.
