Scott Webb (Host): Many of us have used internet review sites for restaurants, but when it comes to our healthcare and choosing a doctor or a hospital, my guest today recommends using more evidence based and objective reviews. I'm joined today by Maureen Archambault. She's a registered nurse and the Chief Quality and Risk Officer with Community Memorial Healthcare.

 Welcome to Wise and Well, presented by Community Memorial Healthcare. I'm Scott Webb.

So Maureen, thanks so much for joining me today. We're going to talk about patient safety awareness and how patients can become more aware and resources and things that you're going to share as we just kind of get rolling here. Why is patient safety awareness so important in today's healthcare landscape?

Maureen Archambault, RN, MBA, HRM, CPHRM, FASHRM: Really good, timely question. Healthgrades, which is one of the organizations that monitors quality in healthcare organizations across the United States, recently just did a study and they found that 57 percent of patients report being more concerned with the quality of care today than they were before the pandemic.

And, recently we've had so much more research and evidence come out about the importance of patient safety. So one example is a Johns Hopkins report that was released in 2023, that really studied diagnostic errors. And they found that about 800,000 Americans die or are permanently disabled across all care settings because of diagnostic error. And at the same time in 2023, the President had a special counsel that really dug into patient safety and the injuries that were caused by adverse events. And they came out with some very specific recommendations that they're hoping that the Biden administration will accept.

And in one of their findings, they found that approximately one in four Medicare patients experience an adverse event during their hospitalization. All things about patient safety, it's a significant public health concern, and it's something that we are very focused on here at Community Memorial Healthcare. Understanding the true impact of preventable harm is important, but whether it's 40,000 or 400,000, I think we can all agree that it's far too many. And it's something we're very, very focused on addressing.

Host: Yeah, far too many. I think that's probably the perfect way to put that. Those numbers are a little startling. I'm still trying to process them. But what are some of the common challenges then or issues that threaten patient safety in healthcare settings?

Maureen Archambault, RN, MBA, HRM, CPHRM, FASHRM: So when we do root cause analysis or an investigation anytime that there's an adverse event, and even across the country, what you're going to see is that the common challenge is communication. It's communication between nursing staff, between physician and nurse, and most importantly, it's communication with our patients.

So, there's so many moving parts. Healthcare is so complex, and it really is making sure that we have the appropriate handoff, making sure we're sharing the right information, and making sure that the patient is part of the healthcare team.

Host: Yeah, and I think that that's such a great way to think of that. It's become more common anyway over the last few years to sort of think of us all as members of a team. We as patients, doctors, nurses, all the specialists that can often be involved. And I know that I have used a Yelp or Google when checking out a new restaurant or something like that. I don't know that I've ever used it for making healthcare decisions. So I'm wondering, from your perspective, why should patients and their family members or caregivers use caution when consulting these types of sites, Yelp or Google, for healthcare reviews and recommendations?

Maureen Archambault, RN, MBA, HRM, CPHRM, FASHRM: I think it's interesting when you go on those sites. There's so many personal opinions and experiences that are being shared on those public sites. But what is missing is some objective data. What we don't see is were standards of care being met, what really was the complexity of the care that was being provided, and there are other avenues that our patients and families can use to make sure that they are making the right decisions.

Host: Yeah, let's talk about those other avenues. I was thinking you mentioned, I think Healthgrades, maybe Leapfrog, things like that. Do you have some go to's, if you will, that you would recommend for seeing safety and other hospital ratings?

Maureen Archambault, RN, MBA, HRM, CPHRM, FASHRM: Yeah, so those organizations along with CMS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, they all use patient information. So we submit our bills, we submit information to CMS, to the CDC as examples. And from that, then they pull our data and they evaluate the quality of the care that we are performing.

And they do that in several ways. All of them use the same data, including U.S. News and World Report. And then from that, they create the reports that will demonstrate how we are providing care and then how we compare with our peers. CMS, as an example, they measure quality of care in five areas. Mortality, safety, readmission, patient experience, and timely and effective care. And when you put all of those five areas together, in fact, it's actually 46 different measures that they're looking at; you really do get a very comprehensive picture of the quality of care that is being provided. And most importantly, how we compare with our peers in California and across the country.

Host: Well, in that way, of course, then, you know, it's, we're talking about real patients, right? Uh, real patients, imagine that, right? And then also just really more objective, right? Less subjectivity and more objectivity, right?

Maureen Archambault, RN, MBA, HRM, CPHRM, FASHRM: Correct. Correct.

Host: That's awesome. So when we think about patients or patients families doing research prior to making healthcare decisions, there's just so many ways that folks, maybe we could call it research, maybe it's not quite research, but just ways that we try to gather information, try to inform ourselves, educate ourselves. What do you recommend when it comes to doing that kind of research?

Maureen Archambault, RN, MBA, HRM, CPHRM, FASHRM: The first thing that I do, if I'm going to be a patient or if I have somebody, my one of my loved one or a family member that is going to be receiving care, I go to hospitalcompare and there's even a physiciancompare. There's a nursinghomecompare. So there are objective websites and data that is being shared that looks at very different metrics and, it will help you explore what services are the best in your neighborhood and what hospital or physician are the best for the needs that you have.

Host: Yeah, those are good resources. It just seems to me, I'm in my fifties, you know, and just seemed to me that we never, maybe it's because we didn't have the internet and social media and review sites and all that, but it seems like when I was younger, we just never questioned. We just assumed, well, that's the hospital. They must, you know, they must be good. They must be good at their jobs. And now there's so many more hospitals and so many more care centers and every good reason, as you were giving us some of those stats earlier, for all of us to do more of our research right?

Maureen Archambault, RN, MBA, HRM, CPHRM, FASHRM: Right. Yeah. You know, we really want our patients to be good consumers of healthcare. We want them to understand their diagnosis, the plan of care, expectations for the hospital, for their hospitalization. We really want them to understand. And like I said before, it's critical that they be a very active member in the care team.

We don't want them to assume. We don't want them to just believe that everything is going to be fine because we are a highly respected hospital, or it's a highly respected physician, but we want them to question and we want them to understand exactly what is happening.

Host: Yeah, and really be advocates in their own healthcare,

Maureen Archambault, RN, MBA, HRM, CPHRM, FASHRM: Exactly.

Host: Yeah. So speaking of some of these review groups we've been referencing here, I want to have you talk about the significance of Community Memorial receiving the Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award two years in a row. That's pretty awesome.

Maureen Archambault, RN, MBA, HRM, CPHRM, FASHRM: It is remarkable because that puts us in the top 10 percent of the entire country. And what that means is we've had significantly higher scores for patient satisfaction and patient engagement. And what's so meaningful there is it is because we have great communication with our patients. It's coming from our frontline staff, from our nursing, from environmental services, from dietary.

It's every corner, every staff member that works here is engaged with our patients and it really is coming from our physicians who are so engaged in making sure that our patients are receiving top quality care. When we talked to Healthgrades about this award, they do say it is really all about the culture of the organization. And most importantly, it's about communication with our patients.

Host: Yeah, that does seem to be a common thread in this conversation, and just generally in healthcare, that communication and good communication, open lines of communication really matters, right?

Maureen Archambault, RN, MBA, HRM, CPHRM, FASHRM: You know, it's so easy to say. Scott, you know, we have to have good communication, but it's tough to do, because like I said, healthcare is complex. And we have to make sure that we are providing the right information at the right time to the right people. And as easy as that sounds, sometimes it's just very difficult.

Host: And a lot of times I think as patients, we don't even know which questions we should know to ask. Right? So we're talking about this today about review sites, and review groups, ways to do research. I think that's important. Like, how do I even know what to ask a doctor?

Maureen Archambault, RN, MBA, HRM, CPHRM, FASHRM: Such a good question. So yeah, I think there's plenty of information out there to help you begin your research. Looking up the diagnosis, looking up the procedure that you're planning to have. Most importantly, having a conversation with your physician. And they're very, very happy to educate the patients. And they also want patients to be prepared and aware of what they should expect during their hospitalization.

Host: Well, this has been educational and a bit of fun today. Just want to have you finish up, tell us more about other five star awards that Community Memorial has received from Healthgrades and most importantly, why do these star ratings or what do these star ratings mean for patients and the community?

Maureen Archambault, RN, MBA, HRM, CPHRM, FASHRM: Yeah. We're super proud of the awards that we've just achieved. We've received five star in stroke care and in cranial neurosurgery. And that means that we are in the top 10 percent of the country for the quality and efficiency of care that we're providing, that means great outcomes, and it means great patient satisfaction.

We were also awarded five stars in the treatment of heart failure, the treatment of COPD as we call it, and then the treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding and respiratory failure. So all of that means that we are in the top 15 percent of the country and far above achieving superior results and far above the peers that also provide those services.

Host: Yeah. Well, as we've kind of established here today, there's a lot of competition and a lot of ways in which folks can do their homework, their research, and, you know, I'm not opposed to, Community Memorial patting themselves on the back a little bit, because it's important. It matters, and sharing this and spreading the news with the community is important to let them know that they're in good hands at Community Memorial, right?

Maureen Archambault, RN, MBA, HRM, CPHRM, FASHRM: Yes, we appreciate that.

Host: Absolutely. Well, Maureen, thanks so much for your time, and you stay well.

Maureen Archambault, RN, MBA, HRM, CPHRM, FASHRM: Thank you so much.

Host: That's Maureen Archambault, Registered Nurse and the Chief Quality and Risk Officer with Community Memorial Health Care. And for more information, go to mycmh.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the entire podcast library for additional topics of interest.

I'm Scott Webb. Thanks for listening. This is Wise and Well presented by Community Memorial Health Care.