Quality teams at Rumford Hospital produce such results as shown here, when the hospital’s decontamination team was the first hospital team to be activated in the state.

Rumford Hospital proposals selected

RUMFOIRD – Rumford Hospital submitted four proposal storyboard presentations at an international quality improvement forum. The storyboards depict the processes that led to quality improvements in the hospital.

All four storyboard presentations were selected for display and discussion at the 2007 Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care, where they will be seen by about 6,000 quality improvement specialists from around the world.

The competitive process of placing a storyboard at the forum includes a lengthy application to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, which sponsors the forum. The institute, based in Cambridge, Mass., is a nonprofit organization that helps to lead the improvement of healthcare throughout the world.

The applications detailed the work of the quality teams at Rumford Hospital and the measurable outcomes of their initiatives.

This year Rumford Hospital submitted proposals outlining the work of four different interdisciplinary teams that worked on four separate and disparate issues: the Emergency Preparedness Team, the Expansion and Treatment Therapies in Patients Admitted with Aspiration Pneumonia Team, the SBAR Implementation on Maternity Team, and The Caring Crafters.

“We submitted four, thinking one might be selected, and were very pleased and surprised to have all four win a place in this prestigious international conference,” said Deborah Oliver, director of health information and quality.

She said, “Last year our winning storyboard was located between a storyboard from Singapore General Hospital and one from University College Hospital, London, England, so you can see it is truly an international honor to be chosen.”