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Hospital Safety in Iowa - Report Card

Duration: 28:42 (Full Program)
Transcript (RTF)

The Iowa Journal assesses what Iowa hospitals are doing to decrease hospital acquired infections and medical errors.

A new World Health Organization study shows that hospitals can prevent the spread of infections and improve the safety of a hospital stay by following checklists. We'll see how Iowa hospitals are reacting.

We asked the Iowa Hospital Association to suggest two 'success stories' in Iowa. We then visited a large and a small hospital to find out about infection control.

The large hospital they chose was Mercy Medical Center, in Des Moines, for its connections with the "5 Million Lives" national Campaign, and also the "Keystone Surgery Project."

The small hospital is Waverly Health Center, a 25-bed institution with an innovative approach to employee flu virus inoculations, as well as embracing protocols from the "5 Million Lives" campaign and the World Health Organization check list.

The two hospitals have chosen different areas to emphasize, both low- and high-tech. But, both organizations have also jumped into the other major adjustment of this century - learning how to improve outcomes for patients by working together in groups.

Also on the program will be a discussion of how hospitals are changing their methods. Guests will include Dr. Tom Evans, director and C.E.O. of the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative and Dr. Douglas G. Merrill, Medical Director of Ambulatory Surgery, and Patient Safety Officer at UI Healthcare in Iowa City.

Out & About Iowa goes to Bedford, Iowa, in southwest Iowa. Bedford is one of many Iowa communities that have been named a Main Street Community.

A lot of the focus of the Main Street program is “economic development within the context of historic preservation,” in other words, using a town’s past to build for the future. As correspondent Dan Kaercher tells us, Bedford is doing that and more.

Host Paul Yeager also discusses the wild week at the Iowa Legislature, and the pending Supreme Court decision on marriage rights for gays, with Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa.

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Post Date: April 3, 2009