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Texoma Medical Center has received the Gold Seal of Approval for health care quality from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
Joint Commission Accreditation means TMC has demonstrated compliance with national standards for patient safety and quality care. "The JCAHO survey was conducted by four individuals over a four day period. They looked at our entire hospital system, including Home Health Care. The resulting accreditation for three years means that our doctors, nurses and support staff are doing an excellent job in providing the highest level of quality care and providing for patient safety. I was extremely appreciative of the teamwork demonstrated by our employees and the pride in our hospital that they conveyed to the surveyors. As I once again observed during the survey, we are blessed to have some very talented people working for THCS," says W. Mackey Watkins, M.D., President/CEO of Texoma HealthCare System.
The award of accreditation is for the three-year period ending June 7, 2006.
During the survey period, the TMC Behavioral Health Center was chosen as a "best practice". This accolade was the result of several performance improvement initiatives at the BHC that included improvements involving patient's treatment plans and transferring patients from one unit to another at BHC.
The BHC team implemented a program that allows the patient to review the list of problems on the treatment plan and rate each problem based on severity, using a scale similar to the pain scale used at TMC. By using this scale, the staff is better able to understand the patient's needs while getting the patient more involved in their own treatment. The JCAHO surveyors were impressed by the BHC's efforts to involve the patient as an active participant in the treatment plan from entry to discharge. "We are proud to be recognized by JCAHO. But we are even more proud that our efforts have enhanced care for our patients here at BHC," commented Sue Daley, MBS, RNC Nurse Manager of BHC.
In addition to the award of Accreditation, Texoma Medical Center has been selected by JCAHO to be a site for pilot testing of pain indicators. TMC joins 8 other healthcare facilities invited to participate in the Pilot Testing for Pain Management Performance Measurement Project. Texoma Medical Center is the only testing site chosen by JCAHO in the state of Texas.
The goals of the project include identifying a set of evidence-based, standardized pain management performance measures that will become Core Measures and graded by JCAHO in 2005. "By participating in this project, TMC staff will become more acutely aware of the issues involving pain management but most importantly a patient's rights to adequate pain management. This right is already listed in our Rights to Patients information here at TMC, but by participating we'll be better prepared to care for those needs," says Sherri Bowen, RN, TMC Education Service Specialist.
For more information on the services and physicians affiliated with Texoma HealthCare System, visit www.thcs.org or call
(903) 416-4000.