The labor, delivery and OB/GYN team at Texas Health Harris Methodist HEB Hospital have won the Texas Hospital Association’s Bill Aston Award for Quality for their work preventing infections after C-sections in a non-research and non-teaching hospital,
Team manager Carol Wolf hoped to bring the number of surgical site infections at the hospital to less than one percent, and found a different way to dress surgical sites of patients who were more susceptible to infections.
“This is really close to my heart because I feel that I’ve contributed to improved quality outcomes for women having Cesarean sections,” Wolf said via release.
Wolf developed an algorithm to provide guidance to surgeons on what type of dressing to use after a C-section, dropping the infection rate from 1 percent in 2015-2016 to 0.8 percent in 2018. The algorithm was also used at Texas Health Fort Worth, lowering their standard infection ratio from 2.43 in 2016 to 0.514 in 2018.
“Patient safety is a priority. It’s what consumers expect from us,” said Texas Health HEB President Fraser Hay, via release. “We’re proud of our care teams for their hard work and pleased at the recognition.”
