ADVANCE...for release at 2 p.m. PDT July 25

(ADVANCE) SAN DIEGO--(BW HealthWire)--July 25, 2002--Patient safety took center stage today as the American Hospital Association (AHA), McKesson Corporation and the McKesson Foundation recognized four hospitals for their leadership in creating a culture of safety. Missouri Baptist Medical Center in St. Louis was honored with the American Hospital Association Quest for Quality Prize, including a $75,000 award to further advance patient safety initiatives.

Finalists were Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington, Mass., and Children's Hospital and Clinics - Minneapolis/St.Paul, each receiving a $12,500 award. Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston received the Citation of Merit.

The first annual Quest for Quality Prize, created in partnership with the McKesson Corporation and McKesson Foundation, recognizes hospitals that have successfully created "cultures of safety," in which everyone from senior management to patients and their families collaborate toward achieving the highest standards of safety and communication. McKesson has joined the AHA as a multi-year sponsor of this award.

Award criteria include organizational patient safety efforts related to patient and family involvement, patient and family communication, leadership, strategic planning, information and analysis, human resources and process management. The Prize highlights innovative patient safety efforts by leading organizations that other hospitals can emulate.

"Each hospital recognized today has taken a slightly different path to achieving a culture of safety," said Dick Davidson, AHA's president. "But each has successfully created a new culture - one based on trust, understanding and openness. That culture goes a long way to improving the care patients receive."

Prize Winner: Missouri Baptist Medical Center - St. Louis

Missouri Baptist's mission of patient safety thrives on staff feedback and management response and pervades all corners of the hospital. Guided by its Patient Safety Program, Missouri Baptist continues to focus on improvement. A community hospital that is a member of BJC Healthcare, Missouri Baptist Medical Center's efforts - fostered by open communication, trust and hospital-wide commitment - are driving patient safety activity at the system level. Innovative strategies include:

• Community Education - Missouri Baptist Center developed a "Mind Your Meds" brochure providing important facts about medications. Brochures are distributed at patient discharge and to the community-at-large. More than 30,000 brochures have been distributed during the program's first 12 months.

• Staff Patient Safety Award - Employees are encouraged to submit ideas for improving patient safety. Winners may receive up to $5,000.

• Small tests of change are performed allowing staff to focus on improvement in a more relaxed environment.

• Staff Feedback - In an effort to encourage, acknowledge and respond to anonymous hospital reporting, management produces bi-monthly emails that address patient safety issues entitled "We Heard You, We Acted." In addition, unit safety briefings, during which nurses share and discuss safety concerns identified in the past 8-12 hours, are incorporated into the beginning of every shift.

Finalist: Fairview Hospital - Great Barrington, Mass.

A small, rural hospital, Fairview has successfully established an open and supportive culture grounded in trust and leadership, using limited resources. From automated labeling in the lab to sharing and analyzing experiences to celebrating accomplishments, the key to Fairview's success is people. Everyone on staff plays an important role and patient safety is truly a team effort. Innovative strategies include:

• Root-cause analysis outcomes used to reduce the "shroud of secrecy" and to promote openness of communication.

• Certificates of recognition reward departments who identify potential safety issues before they become problems.

• Celebrations for accomplishments and successes in safety.

Finalist: Children's Hospital and Clinics - Minneapolis/St. Paul

With broad leadership, commitment and involvement from all disciplines within the hospital, Children's commitment to safety is apparent from the front-line staff to the board of directors. Trust and communication are the cornerstones of this innovative program. Creative strategies include:

• "Stop the Line" program - operations are suspended if a staff member feels proceeding would be unsafe.

• Data Reporting - an emphasis is put on "telling the story" - in addition to statistics and figures - to provide a deeper understanding of what happened and how to improve patient safety.

Citation of Merit: Brigham and Women's Hospital- Boston, Mass.

Brigham and Women's advanced technology brings patient safety into the 21st century. Brigham and Women's Hospital is a national leader in development and use of information technology to improve patient safety. Its efforts include:

• Being a pioneering leader in development and improvement of computerized physician order entry systems.

• Development of automated Emergency Department tracking systems, computerized adverse drug event monitoring system and computerized incident reporting and tracking.

A multi-disciplinary committee of health care experts selected award recipients and honorees. For more information on the award, including the 2003 Call for Nominations and award application, visit the Quest for Quality Web site at www.aha.org/questforquality.

About the AHA

The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the improvement of health in their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which include almost 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks and other providers of care. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information visit the Web site at www.aha.org.

About McKesson Foundation

McKesson Corporation is a leading provider of supply, information and care management products and services designed to improve quality and reduce costs across healthcare. McKesson solutions empower healthcare professionals with the tools they need to deliver care more effectively and efficiently. Founded in 1833, with annual revenues of more than US $50 billion, McKesson ranks as the 31st largest industrial company in the United States. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.mckesson.com.

The McKesson Foundation supports community-based programs and services aimed at improving the health status of at-risk children and adults. The Foundation is funded by McKesson Corporation, the world's largest supply management and health care information technology company.

(End of advance for release 2 p.m. PDT July 25)

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