Joint Commission announces first Physician Leader Forum Challenge Award

Editor's Note

The Joint Commission announced April 26 that Select Medical, based in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, is the first recipient of its Physician Leader Forum Challenge Award.

The award recognizes Select Medical’s leading practice for wound care and prevention of pressure ulcers in patients throughout the system.

An improvement project lowered a system-wide hospital-acquired pressure injury/ulcer rate from nearly 2.5% to 1.35% and a new and worsened pressure ulcer rate of 1.7% to 0.99%.

Other improvements included a system-wide savings of almost $20 million since the program began in the third quarter of 2013 and increased staff satisfaction, with 92% of wound nurses being “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with changes to communication and 83% being “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with changes in the wound program overall.

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