Norman Regional Health System provides 'blueprint' for pneumonia

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Apr 16, 2008 by Jerry Shottenkirk

If imitation truly is the sincerest form of flattery, consider medical professionals at Norman Regional Health System quite flattered indeed.

It began last fall when VHA Inc., an Irving, Texas-based national health care alliance, selected Norman Regional to provide the blueprint for pneumonia prevention and treatment.

Darin Smith, director of pharmacy and performance improvement at Norman Regional, said the hospital spent time coming up with a plan for treatment that could be used as an example by VHA's 1,400 not- for-profit hospitals and more than 21,000 non-acute care health care organizations in the U.S.

"VHA was looking at best practices and wanted to spread them across the VHA network so other people could share in it," Smith said. "Others can learn about the process and work to implement it into their facilities."

Smith and others from the hospital were under the spotlight at a February conference in Orlando, Fla.

"We actually presented a platform presentation about our vaccination program and our care of general patients with pneumonia at our facility, highlighting our best practices," Smith said.

About a month later, the team did a nationally broadcast video conference to VHA hospitals and later had a two-week period of follow-up coaching calls with additional questions asked about pneumonia treatment and prevention.

"What they did was look at their best performances as far as four consecutive quarters where you achieve a certain level of performance or better," he said.

Smith said the hospital has spent several years looking at its process of dealing with pneumonia problems.

"We've spent several years looking at this, and it's a hybrid of different things we do," he said. "We have people assigned to certain aspects. We've made enhancements to our documentation and computer systems and we've put in flags and reminders to prompt the right people to do the right things. Those are the kinds of things you build in to make sure that by the time the patient leaves the hospital, we've done everything we're supposed to do for that patient."

The recognition is the payoff for Norman Regional, Smith said.

"Other than being recognized among our peers, I think it's not as much an issue of us benefiting," he said. "It's just a stamp that we're doing our best to provide evidence-based care for the patients and that we're striving to do the right thing for them."

David Whitaker, president and chief executive officer of Norman Regional Health System, said it was an honor for the hospital.

"We've received excellent response from other hospitals around the country that are using VHA's blueprint of our pneumonia prevention and treatment," he said. "Our first priority is always our patients, but the fact that our work can help other hospitals improve their care is testimony to our team and its dedication."