FROM THE DESK OF DR. MARY TONGES
Many thanks to the Quality Council and to each of you.
The most recent good news is that our nosocomial pressure
ulcer rate is 2.7 (on a base of 478 patients). This is down from
3.2 in February and our lowest since December, 2010 when the
rate was 2.2. What is especially good about these results is the
fact that for the first time Stage 1’s were included in the survey
in accordance with new National Database for Nursing Quality
Indicators. It’s great to see this reduction and a real credit to the
work of the Skin Committee and Resource Nurses.
F I N AN C E
• November 2011: 7 bed Admissions Unit opened on the
ground floor of NS
• January 2012: 10 bed ADU reopened on 4 West to
accommodate very high census
I NNO VATI O N
Through the work of the Clinical Documentation
Implementation Committee, we can now extract pain
assessment data from eChart, and falls documentation flows
to PORS. We’re on track to begin using electronic Medication
Administration Records (MARs) in the coming year.
We don’t always talk as much about finance but we all know
The Perinatal Depression Unit is the first of its kind in the
how critical it is. As they say, “no margin, no mission,” meaning
nation.
that unless we are paid more than we spend, we will not have
the resources needed to fulfill our mission, especially our
commitment to care for the people of NC regardless of ability
to pay. As the largest division in an enterprise in which at
least 50+ percent of costs are salaries, nursing’s financial
The Research Council i