Newswise — The neonatal intensive care unit for sickest of newborns at Harris Health System’s Ben Taub Hospital is the only Gold Level recipient of the Beacon Award for Excellence in Texas. The prestigious designation is awarded to hospitals with exceptional patient care and is given by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.
The Arnold J. Rudolph Memorial Newborn Intensive Care Unit supports a culture of teamwork, advocacy, compassion and commitment in achieving excellence for the patients it serves and returning them to their optimal state of health. A strength supporting the excellent performance within the neonatal ICU is its dedication to effective communication and true collaboration between the team to ensure quality, patient-centered care and outcomes.
“Collaboration empowers us to change the culture of safety and make it a better environment for our patients,” says Dr. Joseph Garcia-Prats, chief, Neonatology, Ben Taub Hospital, and professor, Pediatrics and Ethics, Baylor College of Medicine.
“Working with this team empowers each and every one of us to improve high standards of professionalism in a nurturing environment, and that makes it fun to come to work every day.”
Ben Taub’s newborn ICU provides care to critically ill premature newborns or medically fragile babies. The unit can care for infants as young as 30 days of age or newborns who need intensive care including complex cardio-respiratory diseases, blood transfusions, ventilator support and percutaneous central line placements.
For the reporting year of 2014, infants admitted to unit were primarily those weighing 2,500 grams or 5.5 pounds at birth. Medical support is provided by board-certified neonatologists from Baylor College of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics.
“We are pleased and blessed to receive this prestigious gold level award,” says Rosamma Finney, administrative director, Nursing, Women and Infant Services, Ben Taub Hospital. “This is a true hallmark of the teamwork and collaboration of our staff as we care for our community’s most vulnerable patients.”
According to the AACN awards committee, “The (Ben Taub) unit’s accomplishment represents one of many significant milestones on the journey to optimal outcomes and exceptional patient care.”
Ben Taub’s unit is ranked among the 90th percentile or better by the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators for its staff attaining higher-education credentials and board certifications.
“This reflects a unit with refined processes that are applied systematically with participation by key stakeholders,” AACN further states. “There is evidence of learning and cycles of improvement. Results for key measurement areas are superior and demonstrate beneficial trends for most areas of importance.”
RSS