Celebrating our success: Recognizing an impressive overall Acute Care Incident Rate in September’s Pressure Injury Audit

At Trillium Health Partners (THP), we see you not just as a patient, but as a person beyond your symptoms. Our staff are committed to providing quality care, day in and day out. As a testament to this, we are so proud to report our overall Acute Care Incident Rate in September’s Pressure Injury Audit was 2.84%. This result is significantly below the Canadian benchmark of 5.8% and is one of the lowest scores ever reported by a hospital – which is an amazing achievement for THP!??

September’s audit was conducted through Hillrom’s International Pressure Ulcer/Injury Prevalence survey, an international benchmark. The Acute Care Incident Rate refers to the prevalence of pressure injuries during hospital care. Having scores below the benchmark is a great accomplishment because it means our teams are ensuring that care for our patients who are at risk of developing pressure injuries are being prioritized, every day, at all our sites.?

These September audit results continue our five-year streak of reporting under benchmark numbers and are a direct result of the quality of our care and collaboration of our teams.??

Pressure injuries occur when a patient is bedridden or immobile for a prolonged period, causing damage to the skin or underlying tissue. At THP, we recognize that patients are at higher risk of hospital acquired injury just by being in an acute care setting. We know that healthy skin, free of wounds, is an indicator of overall quality of care, which is why this is one of our Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) indicators. Our team takes an all-hands-on-deck approach to reducing hospital-acquired pressures injuries, which is reflected in our audit results.??

As an interprofessional team, we use a quality improvement approach, with standardized audit and feedback mechanisms that focus on:?

• A robust reporting system, including diligent documentation of risk assessments??
• Providing wound care education to all our staff, including nurses, allied health, and clinical externs?
• Identifying clear practice standards for our clinical teams?
• Optimizing nutrition for wound healing?
• Frequent patient repositioning?
• Managing pain appropriately?
• Reducing number of layers?

These strategies demonstrate successful partnerships between our clinical teams and leaders, professional practice, and quality department, who work collaboratively to ensure our patients are safe. A key part of our care team are our nurses who specialize in wound care and offer improved access to specialized care and provide support the clinical teams and point of care staff.??

The future of health care goes beyond our hospital’s walls, cares for the whole person and ensures no one gets left behind. We are embedding these successful practices into THP’s standard work so they are hardwired into our day-to-day processes and can be sustained over time. By doing this, we are confident that we will continue to consistently hit below benchmark across our sites and continue to provide high-quality care to our patients. Reach out if you’d like to learn more for your organization!??

Congratulations Team THP!??