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Doernbecher Children's Hospital receives national award for improving patient safety

Work to reduce radiation exposure merits 2015 Children’s Hospital Association Pediatric Quality Award
Doernbecher Children's Hospital
OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.(OHSU/Fritz Liedtke)

The Children’s Hospital Association has awarded OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital its 2015 Pediatric Quality Award for Patient Safety and Reduction of Harm. This prestigious award is given to children’s hospitals that demonstrate significant clinical or operational improvements with the potential to advance children’s health care.

“This recognition signifies a positive change in hospital culture that has the potential to spread throughout our organization and beyond,” said Jodi Coombs, R.N., M.B.A., vice president for Women's & Children's Services, OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital. “I am incredibly proud of the OHSU Doernbecher team for their exemplary work, and for their dedication to continually enhance quality patient care and safety.”

OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital was selected following a competitive submission and judging process that considered 76 quality improvement projects from CHA member hospitals across the United States. The award was presented at the Quality and Safety in Children’s Health Conference in New Orleans.

The CHA recognized OHSU Doernbecher’s interdisciplinary team of pediatric radiologists and quality improvement specialists for their work in reducing radiation exposure by 50 percent for children undergoing barium swallow studies. This work, which leveraged existing technologies and resources, has the potential to reduce the risk of cancer associated with excessive radiation exposure without limiting the results of swallow studies necessary for the detection of disease.

OHSU Doernbecher’s award-winning quality improvement submission, “Reducing Radiation Exposure: Pediatric Modified Barium Swallow Studies,” can be read here.

About OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital

OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital ranks among the nation’s Best Children’s Hospitals. Nationally recognized physicians and nurses provide a full range of specialty and subspecialty care to tens of thousands of children annually, resulting in 200,000 discharges, surgeries, transports and outpatient visits annually in a patient- and family-centered environment. OHSU Doernbecher providers also travel throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington, providing specialty care to more than 3,000 children at more than 200 outreach clinics in 15 locations. Using state-of-the-art, secure two-way video and audio communication, OHSU Doernbecher’s Telemedicine Network connects pediatric intensivists and neonatologists to emergency room physicians statewide to help evaluate time-critical pediatric patient needs and assist with treatment plans.

* U.S. News & World Report 2015-16 Best Children’s Hospitals

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