El Camino Hospital was named one of the four best hospitals in the United States in a July study by the Washington, D.C.,-based Economic and Social Research Institute.
Hospitals across the country are searching for ways to improve quality of care and promote effective quality improvement strategies. El Camino Hospital received high marks in the study.
With financial help from a Commonwealth Fund grant, the key elements of a successful strategy were defined as developing the right culture for quality to flourish, attracting and retaining the right people to promote quality, developing and updating the right in-house processes for quality improvement and giving the staff the right tools to do the job.
In addition to El Camino Hospital, the other top-rated performing hospitals were: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Mass.; Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pa.; and Mission Hospitals, Asheville, N.C.
El Camino Hospital’s success is primarily the result of two factors – an internal environment that is highly conducive to quality outcomes and processes, and a set of practical tools that promote quality on a daily basis.
Two lessons learned at El Camino Hospital are there is no substitute for creating the type of organization where top-notch talent wants to work and a culture that values mutual respect and peer-type relations between physicians and nurses.
Proactive, knowledgeable nurses can play a critical role in ensuring high quality on a day-to-day basis, provided they enjoy the respect of the medical staff.
El Camino’s current leadership has reinvigorated the organization’s commitment to quality and to putting patients first. Many old-timers on the medical and nursing staff suggested this reinvigoration process has been very important.
The Hospital Board also reviews the hospital’s quality indicators quarterly and is quick to intervene if problems arise.
Nurses, case managers and other staff at El Camino are involved in a variety of committees and projects dedicated to quality improvement. At any given time, roughly 10 hospitalwide teams of eight to 10 members are operating with a commitment to quality.
Because El Camino has a unionized nursing staff, there are strict rules on compensation that ensure nurses are paid for all of their time on activities and receive 1.5 times their regular salary for overtime work, because many nurses are heavily involved in quality improvement projects.
“When you first come here as a new physician, you learn two things. Work with the nurses and use the computer,” said an El Camino medical director. “If you don’t learn these lessons over time, you will be dealt with.”
Other ingredients for success at El Camino are the leading-edge information systems and technologies that promote seamless information flow and provide safeguards against mistakes that lead to better decisions and reduced risk of error.
“What’s different about El Camino?” asked Lee Domanico, CEO. “The hospital has an ethic of providing excellent patient care. All hospitals have it to some degree, but here it’s a religion when compared to other hospitals I worked at.”
