Quality Program

Quality and Patient Safety

Mercy Medical Center has an ongoing commitment to provide each and every patient the very best in quality healthcare.  We recognize that patient care improvement is a continuous process.  Our intent is to allow increased transparency of our results and efforts in addition to better inform our community of our quality performance. Mercy is among hospitals participating in the Hospital Quality Alliance, a program managed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to assess quality.  We also participate in Partnership for Patients through the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems (OAHHS). Since Mercy is affiliated with Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI), the nation’s second largest faith-based health care system, we also participate as a member of a nationwide team focusing on evidence-based practices to positively impact patient outcomes.  At Mercy, we recognize that when it comes to the quality of your healthcare, you expect and deserve treatment administered with compassion and respect.

Hospital Accreditation

• The Joint Commission, an independent not for profit organization, certifies organizations that meet performance and quality standards.
• The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
• The State of Oregon Department of Health and Human Services.

Quality of Care

We understand the importance of providing a quality healthcare experience for our patients.  Though not all risks of death or complications can be eradicated, low mortality and high success rate indicate patient safety.  Underlying patient conditions, also called co-morbidities, will also affect risk assessment.

Mercy Medical Center has multiple departments and initiatives that work together in concert to assess and assure the best quality and most reliable safety.

Infection Control

Infection prevention is our highest goal.  Daily rounding and surveillance is performed by experienced registered nurses to ensure compliance with isolation requirements and to be available for any questions our staff may have on infection prevention practices. Implementation and maintenance of excellent infection control practices are our goal. Our Infectious Disease physician works closely with the Infection Prevention staff to provide up-to-date information to our physicians and employees.

Safety

Mercy Medical Center is dedicated to promoting safe patient practices by implementing reliable systems designed to avert and mitigate errors. Every person who visits Mercy, employees, visitor or patient, is assured a safe environment.  The current safety initiative used at Mercy is SafetyFirst. SafetyFirst is CHI’s systemwide work to offer the safest care for patients, as well as a safe working environment for our medical staff and employees at every location across the country. SafetyFirst will: improve patient safety, improve employee safety, increase error reporting and highlight near misses to help prevent future occurrences and help us achieve our goal of zero events of preventable harm by 2020.

Emergency Preparedness

A special group within Mercy Medical Center, working with outside agencies, coordinates the response to environmental hazards or multiple trauma events.  Periodic mock drills are run to assure a smooth response in the event of a real emergency situation.

Process Improvement

The Quality Improvement Department collaborates with the Medical Staff providers, nursing departments, and all other hospital departments to develop integrated solutions that augment best practices, which result in high quality care and service.  Process improvement is ongoing and never ending as we strive to utilize the latest quality and evidence-based strategies to provide the highest quality of care to our patients.

Quality

The Quality Improvement Department manages wide-ranging programs to monitor, evaluate and improve quality and operational processes that affect patient care. The world of healthcare is changing daily and our quality department endeavors to work with our providers to provide our patients with the highest quality of care possible.