Essentia Health St. Mary’s-Detroit Lakes was included in a mid-February story that listed facilities penalized for hospital-acquired conditions (“Detroit Lakes hospital is one of 12 in Minnesota penalized for hospital-acquired conditions”).
It was a missed opportunity for us to highlight the improvements our hospital has made. Indeed, the penalty is based on data from mid-2018 through 2019 and does not accurately reflect our commitment to reducing hospital-acquired conditions.
For example: Essentia Health St. Mary’s-Detroit Lakes had seven cases of hospital-acquired clostridium difficile colitis (C. diff) infection in 2019; we had no other types of health care-associated infections that are measured by the federal program for this reporting period. Our leaders and care teams took immediate action to correct deficiencies that may have prompted these infections. The result was a major reduction in hospital-acquired C. diff — from seven cases in 2019 to two apiece in 2020 and 2021.
That’s a marked improvement, and one that we’re proud of. However, it’s still two too many. Essentia’s aspirational aim is Zero Preventable Harm. To achieve that, we need to eliminate these conditions or hospital-acquired infections completely.
What is Essentia doing to make that happen? We are continuously reviewing our processes and have strategies in place to keep patients safe. These specific C. diff infections tend to be related to antibiotic use, and we have an active antimicrobial stewardship committee at Essentia to ensure that we give antibiotics appropriately and limit over-prescribing.
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Similarly, we have an engaged team of professionals in infection prevention, pharmacy, quality and nursing, along with physicians and advanced practice providers — all focused on your health and safety.
We are committed to the safety and well-being of our patients, who expect and deserve the highest caliber health care right here in Detroit Lakes. It’s an expectation that we work tirelessly to meet, as evidenced by our hospital’s current four-star rating for overall quality from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
This rating is determined by a hospital’s performance across a variety of areas, such as treating heart attacks and pneumonia, readmission rates and safety of care.
We also received a four-star rating from patients via a survey administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
These marks are testaments to the outstanding care we provide. Essentia Health is honored to serve this community and will never stop striving to be better.
