RUMFORD – Rumford Hospital’s director of health information and quality, Deb Oliver, together with Anne Marie Mahar, clinical quality review coordinator, and Joette Carlton, birthing center manager, will attend the 2007 National Forum on Quality Improvement to present four posters depicting quality improvement initiatives at the hospital.

Oliver and her quality team submitted four proposals for storyboard presentations at the forum, and all four were accepted. At the forum the storyboards will be seen by about 6,000 quality improvement specialists from around the world, and Rumford Hospital staff members will have the opportunity to explain the initiatives in detail.

One improvement project, titled “Expansion of the Treatment Therapies in Patients Admitted with Aspiration Pneumonia,” sought to maintain or increase the number of consults to the dietitian and respiratory therapists while increasing the number of consults to the speech language pathologist by 25 percent within six months for patients with a diagnosis of aspiration pneumonia. The team developed a risk assessment tool, wrote an aspiration risk assessment and prevention plan, developed protocols and developed signage and a news bulletin.

The speech language pathologist’s consults were increased from 54 to 73 percent. Dietitian consults increased from 88 to 100 percent. The tools the team developed have been shared, not only with sister hospitals in the Central Maine Health Care Family, but also with other small, critical access hospitals throughout Maine.

Other posters being presented are the “Caring Crafters,” “Emergency Preparedness” and “Birthing Center Communications.”