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Marshall Browning Hospital gains 'Innovation of the Year' honors

SPRINGFIELD-Marshall Browning Hospital was awarded top honors in Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network's first-ever hospital "Innovation of the Year" competition for its Advanced Practice Practitioner as Hospitalist program.

Participants were encouraged to submit innovations implemented at their respective hospitals which initiated a new approach to improve patient relationships, developed a new process flow or life-safety improvement, found creative ways to motivate and inspire staff, or fostered a successful community project.

Edwin Gast, Marshall Browning CEO, and Laurie Kellerman, CNO, accepted the honor for their DuQuoin critical access hospital during a ceremony held November 7th at the Crowne Plaza, Springfield, and attended by hospital personnel from throughout the state. Cary Bailey, APN-Hospitalist, and Gladstone Tucker, MD, also served as vital members of the team project.
"The award recognizes Marshall Browning Hospital's attention to the patient care experience and represents what is right in healthcare. Being the first in the area to add a nurse practitioner hospitalist has only enhanced the excellence in the care that we provide to our community," said Gast. "Our patients and their families are pleased, as well as our physicians and staff. Acute Care, Inc., the organization that provides our ER physician coverage, is now promoting the concept in the hospitals they serve across the country. I am very excited for Marshall Browning Hospital to be recognized with the top honor for the 'Innovation of the Year' award."

Defined, a "hospitalist" embodies the combination of the words hospital and specialist. When hospitalization is required, the patient may be cared for by a family physician or by a hospitalist. As aforementioned, MBH partners with Acute Care, Inc. The physicians of this partnership serve in a dual role, providing both emergency and inpatient medicine. Hospitalists are available every day, 24 hours a day, and can ensure patients, through collaboration with the family physician, are receiving the best possible care as expediently as possible.
Advantages include increased convenience and safety for the patient; the opportunity to work with patients for a longer period of time as hospitalists are not office-based; immediate access to the family physician through the hospitalist; patients may see hospitalists on-site around the clock and more than once a day; emergencies can be efficiently handled and tests and follow-up treatments ordered in immediate response to a change in condition; and the primary care physician is accurately updated on a regular basis regarding the patient's progress, promoting consistency of care.

"Cary (MBH's hospitalist) quite capably handles issues on the medical-surgical unit and only calls on the ED doctor in extreme crisis. Our local physicians have stated multiple times that their patients seem much more knowledgeable regarding their conditions and their medications. Also, Cary communicates so well with all of the local doctors and with specialists that the patients may see," said Kellerman. "The doctors are happy. The nurses are happy. The care is coordinated. And most importantly, the patients and their families are happy. This program has been of a great value to us."

Hamilton Memorial Hospital District, McLeansboro, and Fairfield Memorial Hospital, Fairfield, won awards for honorable mention. Hamilton Memorial also presented an Advanced Practice Provider program, while Fairfield offered the "Senior Solutions' Coffee Club" program. Other projects included programs on diabetes self-management, OB rapid response, Seth's Law bathroom locks, health careers' programs, exercise and weight loss programs, "Bring the Talent Back Home" programs, and the "Lunch Bunch" program.

"It gave us great pleasure to honor our rural hospitals for their hard work and vision in creating innovative ways to better serve their patients and the community on a daily basis," said Angie Charlet, ICAHN Director of Quality Services. "As amazing as the project submissions were this year, I can only imagine what our CAHs will bring to the table next year. They are constantly evolving."

Cary Bailey, a DuQuoin resident, joined MBH in FY2012. She is a graduate of the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. Prior to joining Marshall Browning Hospital, she specialized in the medical care of acutely ill hospitalized patients at Memorial Hospital of Carbondale for over 13 years. While at MHC, she worked in the Emergency Room and in cardiovascular procedures with the Prairie Heart Institute.

ICAHN, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit agency, was established in 2003 for the purposes of sharing resources, education, promoting efficiency and best practice, and improving health care services for member critical access hospitals and their rural communities. ICAHN, with its 51 member hospitals, is an independent network governed by a nine-member board. For further information, visit www.icahn.org.