All of our hospital emergency departments have installed the Broselow System to ensure the proper dosing and administration of drugs to children.  Pediatric dosing can be difficult, especially in emergency situations, and the Broselow System allows medical professionals to instantly access proper dosing, improve the speed and accuracy in acute preparation and administration of drugs, reduce medical errors and standardizes pediatric dosing so that we can provide our young patients with high quality emergency care, safely.

The West Florida Division continued to move forward with rolling out the EHR initiative, which allows for electronic access to patient health information.  Our hospitals have brought numerous clinical components for the EHR on-line through major investments in technology, including:

hCare Hub

Linking physician practices to our hospital databases is accomplished through this interface. Real-time access to patient clinical data from the hospital can provide necessary information to physicians to make timely decisions and reduce duplicate testing and unnecessary hospitalizations.

Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS)

The PACS system immediately digitizes images from radiology and cardiac studies so they can be stored and electronically viewed on screens remotely.  This enables doctors and other health care professionals to access the images and when available to compare new images with previous images at the touch of a button.

Voice Recognition

To improve report turnaround time and patient care, our hospitals and imaging centers use Voice Recognition which allows physicians to update patient records and report their interpretation of a study by speaking instead of dictating or using a keyboard.  The physician then reviews the report on screen, makes any adjustments, signs the report and it posts immediately for others to view. Report turnaround time has been greatly reduced to an average of just over 30 minutes.

MUSE

All 15 HCA West Florida Division hospitals have installed this system which digitizes EKG tracings so physicians can review, diagnose and treat heart patients within seconds.

HCA led a national effort to reduce medication errors by placing this system in all of our hospitals several years ago. Bar codes on medications are scanned at the patient’s bedside, providing our clinical staff with an effective tool to ensure that the right patient receives the right medication at the right time through the right route.

We expanded bar coding use in all of our hospitals this past year to transfusion products.  Prior to administering any blood product, the unit is scanned to ensure the patient is receiving the right transfusion product at the right time through the right route.

The National Patient Safety Foundation has recognized all HCA employees for their efforts in supporting HCA’s flu immunization policy.  More than 97 percent of our employees have received the flu vaccine, an amazing accomplishment which helps protect our patients as well as our employees and their families. Additionally, many of our hospitals actively participate in community outreach efforts to educate the public about the importance of seasonal flu vaccine.

View the "Interview with the Flu" video

We were the first US healthcare system to voluntarily perform a simple blood test to screen newborns for elevated levels of bilirubin that triggers jaundice. By identifying newborns at risk for Kernicterus, which causes permanent brain damage and physical impairment, we can treat them immediately and prevent this serious health threat.

HCA continues to be a leader in the fight to stop the spread of MRSA, and was invited to participate as a partner organization in the REDUCE MRSA Clinical Trial, with the CDC Prevention Epicenters, CDC Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion and the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (AHRQ). The goal of the study is to conduct a cluster randomized trial of hospitals to compare uniform versus target MRSA decolonization as a means to reduce healthcare-associated MRSA infection. Eight HCA West Florida Division hospitals are participating.

Locally, we continue to be very involved in educational outreach to prevent the spread of community acquired MRSA. The national Clean Hands Are Cool Hands campaign, featuring teen star Mitchel Musso (Hannah Montana show), was launched here to educate children, teachers and parents on the importance of handwashing.

We’re also bringing future physicians to our communities through medical training programs, with Largo Medical Center home to the largest osteopathic teaching program in the southeastern United States and Largo has earned designation as a Statutory Teaching Hospital by the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA). St. Petersburg General Hospital and Northside Hospital also sponsor medical training programs including Traditional Rotating Internship and Family Practice Residency.

HCA West Florida developed an innovative program called Responsible Imaging to enhance medical imaging safety through state of the art monitoring, use of best practices and extensive education of staff, physicians and patients.  The program was developed and piloted at Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point and Largo Medical Center with LANDAUER®, a global leader in leader in radiation science and services.  With increasing attention on the long-term cumulative effect of radiation exposure, we are excited to be a leader in responsible medical imaging practices. This innovative safety program will be comprehensively implemented throughout the West Florida hospitals within the first quarter.

HCA West Florida hospitals, in conjunction with sanofi-aventis® , implemented an aggressive venous thromboembolism (VTE) Rule-Out  initiative and has actively participated in DVT awareness efforts to help educate the public about these health risks.  The Rule-Out protocol help ensures that patients are screened and when appropriate receive preventive treatment  for VTE which poses a significant health risk and consists of 2 potentially life–threatening conditions¹: Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and Pulmonary embolism (PE).