Fairview Northland Medical Center earned national recognition last month for improving the way it keeps track of patients’ medications before, during and after hospitalization. The medical center was among six institutions honored by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) for winning the “Innovation Challenge”—a national search for the best and brightest ideas, strategies and results in the area of medication reconciliation. Medication reconciliation is the process of identifying and tracking a patient’s medicines throughout the entire hospitalization. A patient’s list of medications before entering the hospital will often change based on treatments provided during the stay and again at discharge.

Fairview Northland used a variety of technologies and clinical talent to improve medication reconciliation. An interdisciplinary team of nurses, pharmacists and physicians studied the issue and updated processes. As a result, a pharmacist now reviews each patient’s discharge orders and updates the patient’s clinic-based medical record. The hospital now utilizes an electronic medical record to generate admissions forms and medications lists. These efforts brought dramatic improvement in both the accuracy and completeness of patient medication lists.

“The award really speaks to the hard work so many people put into this project,” said Greg Schoen, M.D., chief medical officer at Fairview Northland. “Keeping track of a patient’s changing medications is incredibly important, and these improvements will keep our patients safer and improve medical outcomes.” The innovation challenge award was presented during the IHI’s 19th Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care, held this past December in Orlando, Florida.

In 2007, Fairview Northland Medical Center also earned the national Premier Award for Quality for treating heart attack and heart failure -- for the second year in a row.  The honor is presented by Premier Inc., a national health care alliance. "The Premier Award for Quality honors clinical excellence in both quality of care and operational efficiency,” according to Schoen. “The award differentiates its winners as industry leaders that deliver outstanding patient care while reducing the cost of healthcare by improving resource utilization. This reward is a result of our dedicated nursing and medical staff working together as a team with the goal of providing the highest quality of patient care you could find anywhere in the country."

In addition, Fairview Elk River Clinic and Fairview Princeton Clinic earned the 2007 Bridges to Excellence Award for ongoing pursuit of excellence in diabetes management.  The honor distinguishes these clinics as outstanding places in Minnesota to receive care for diabetes. To encourage the doctor and patient partnership, Bridges to Excellence (BTE), a national group of large employers (which in Minnesota also includes the state government), rewards doctors for successful, high quality diabetes care. BTE this year recognized 36 of more than 200 participating clinic sites in Minnesota for their diabetes care. Fifteen of those are Fairview clinics and two of those 15 are Fairview Princeton and Fairview Elk River clinics.