Newsletter

Quality and Patient Safety Newsletter for Virginia Hospitals and Health Systems

July 2023

What’s in this Newsletter:

  • Member Spotlight-Virginians Speak Up for Safety
  • Upcoming Events
  • Initiatives to Support Virginia Hospitals
  • Save the date: 2024 Virginia Patient Safety Summit 

Speak Up for Safety!

“Virginians Speak Up for Safety” Award Program

The VHHA Center for Healthcare Excellence is honored to recognize Virginia hospital employees who speak up for safety! The statewide “Virginians Speak Up for Safety” award recognizes hospital staff and physicians in Virginia who identify potential harm events in their work environments and speak up when it is easy to say nothing and may be difficult to say something. For the most recent quarter, we received many great nominations representing tremendous efforts on behalf of patient and staff safety. Many thanks to the hospital systems that foster organizational cultures which enable staff to feel safe speaking up for safety. First quarter 2023 nominations were submitted by Ballad Health, Bon Secours Mercy Health, Carilion Clinic, Centra Health, Chesapeake Regional Healthcare, CHKD, Inova Health System, Mary Washington Healthcare, Sentara Healthcare, UVA Health, Valley Health, and VCU Health.
Use the link below to submit your third quarter 2023 “Speak Up for Safety” Nominations.  Submission deadline is September 30, 2023. 

First Quarter 2023 Award Recipients

Jenna Best, RN

Bon Secours Southampton Medical Center
Nominated by Cassie Lewis

Lisa Kear, RN
Chesapeake Regional Healthcare
Nominated by Mary Collins and Ray McCue

Upcoming Events

Save the dates for in-person events planned for the fall at VHHA’s Conference Center in Glen Allen, Virginia. Registration information coming soon.  

Patient Experience Workshop: October 11, 2023 – This workshop will be an opportunity for shared learning among Virginia hospitals about best practices for improving patient experience and HCAHPS scores.

Human Factors Workshop:  November 3, 2023. This workshop will feature Laurie Wolf, PhD, CPR, of Carilion Clinic who will share insights on how to incorporate human factors concepts into RCA analysis.

Center for Healthcare Excellence Initiatives Supporting Virginia Hospitals

CMO/Physician Leader Forum
This forum was created to provide Chief Medical Officers and physician leaders in Virginia hospitals and health systems an opportunity to discuss their individual and collective efforts to manage patient care and operational issues during the COVID-19 crisis. These meetings have been such an effective platform for networking, problem-solving, and sharing of best practices that participating physician leaders have committed to continue with these meetings. To learn more about this forum, contact Abraham Segres at asegres@vhha.com .

CNO/Nurse Leader Forum
This forum was created to provide Chief Nurse Officers and nurse leaders in Virginia hospitals and health systems an opportunity to discuss their individual and collective efforts to manage patient care and operational issues during the COVID-19 crisis. These meetings have been such an effective platform for networking, problem-solving, and sharing of best practices participating nurse leaders have committed to continue with these meetings. To learn more about this forum, contact Abraham Segres at asegres@vhha.com.

Quality Forum
This forum serves as a statewide workgroup comprised of Virginia hospital quality professionals coming together to learn and share information around external reporting metrics. To learn more about this forum, contact Kristie Burnette at kburnette@vhha.com.

Patient Experience Forum
This forum provides a statewide venue for Virginia hospitals and health systems to share information and best practice strategies for creating and sustaining optimal patient and family experiences across the continuum of care within their healthcare systems. For more information, contact Abraham Segres at asegres@vhha.com.

Workplace Safety Task Force
In 2020, volunteers from Virginia hospitals and health systems came together with routine meetings to focus on reducing occupational injuries of employee harm. A special task force focus has been the reduction and elimination of workplace violence events. The task force works to share information and best practice strategies, network and facilitate education to develop programs to reduce employee harm. To learn more about this task force, contact Joyce Dayvault at jdayvault@vhha.com .

Paul Coverdell Stroke Collaborative
This is a grant-funded initiative in partnership with the Virginia Department of Health. The Collaborative provides resources and education to support smaller hospitals with improving stroke outcomes. To learn more, contact Kristie Burnette at kburnette@vhha.com.

Virginia Healthcare-Associated Infections Advisory Group (VHAG)   
The Virginia Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Advisory Group is a voluntary, statewide, multidisciplinary group that coordinates the efforts of the Commonwealth’s HAI stakeholders to align strategies, share information and resources, and produce synergies that will accelerate statewide and individual institutional progress in preventing HAIs and antimicrobial resistance (AR). The group is co-led by the Virginia Department of Health, the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, and Health Quality Innovators, the Virginia Quality Innovation Network – Quality Improvement Organization. To learn more about this advisory group, contact Joyce Dayvault at jdayvault@vhha.com.

Virginia PSO Advisory Council
The Virginia PSO Advisory Council includes representatives from each of the Virginia PSO member hospitals or health systems. This group provides advice and guidance regarding the types and nature of patient safety activities to be undertaken by the Virginia Patient Safety Organization. To learn more, contact Kristie Burnette at kburnette@vhha.com.

SAVE THE DATE: VHHA 2024 Virginia Patient Safety Summit November 7, 2022 and December 9, 2022

The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association is planning for another Patient Safety Summit to be held on Thursday, February 22, 2024. The one-day event will again be virtual, offering keynote speakers and breakout sessions focused on current patient and employee safety issues. Program details will be forthcoming in the coming months! So mark your calendars for this popular event!Monday, November 7 at 12:00 Noon

Thank you, Virginia hospitals!

VHHA’s Center for Healthcare Excellence Team works hard to keep you up to date with the latest statewide health care quality and safety initatives!

  • Abraham Segres, MHA, Vice President, Quality and Patient Safety, asegres@vhha.com 
  • Kristie Burnette, MSN, RN, CPHQ, CPPS, Director, Patient Safety and Quality, kburnette@vhha.com
  • Joyce Dayvault, RN, BBA, CPHQ, Director, Process Improvement, jdayvault@vhha.com

Please don’t hesitate to contact members of the team, and send us any feedback or suggestions for topics to cover in future newsletters. Thank you!