Adventist Health Hanford has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for Disease-Specific Care in Sepsis Certification by demonstrating continuous compliance with performance standards. The Gold Seal is a symbol of quality that reflects a healthcare organization’s commitment to providing safe and quality patient care.
Being sepsis-certified improves the quality of patient care by providing:
- More accurate assessments
- Standardized treatments
- Reduced variabilities in the management of sepsis
“Amidst COVID-19 and its many challenges, our hospital teams worked around-the-clock to improve processes to reduce sepsis occurrences,” says Laurie Taggart, patient care executive for Adventist Health in the Central Valley. “To be among only 13 hospitals throughout California to be awarded certification in sepsis care shows the commitment and dedication by our team. I am extremely proud of their hard work.”
Sepsis is a life-threatening medical emergency, caused by the body’s toxic response to an infection. If not treated quickly and effectively, it can lead to tissue damage, organ failure, amputation or even death.
“Healthcare professionals must know how to recognize sepsis, treat it quickly and appropriately,” says Dr. Gurvinder Kaur, medical officer for Adventist Health in the Central Valley. “Ongoing education on how to recognize sepsis early and provide therapy is an essential part of our sepsis program at Adventist Health Hanford. If identified early and treated quickly with antibiotics and intravenous (IV) fluids, we can save lives, decrease the severity of illness, reduce a patients’ hospital stay and decrease its long-lasting effects.”
The certification recognizes that Adventist Health Hanford provides clinical programs across the continuum of care for sepsis and evaluates how it uses clinical outcomes and performance measures to identify opportunities to improve care, as well as to educate and prepare patients and their caregivers for discharge.
The hospital underwent a rigorous onsite review by The Joint Commission in November 2021, which included onsite observations and interviews. A team of Joint Commission reviewers evaluated compliance with related certification standards. For more information, visit The Joint Commission website at jointcommission.org
For more information about sepsis, click here: Learn four ways to get ahead of Sepsis | California Hospitals (adventisthealth.org)