Quality improvement and measurements
Quality improvement
We continuously improve our care by working on improvements in our organizational structure, our processes and our procedures in a systematic, structured and transparent way. Through regular internal audits (audits), surveys of patients and employees, quality measurements and registration of (near) incidents and the thorough analysis of the results, our operations are continuously monitored closely. Points for improvement and the resulting action plans are discussed with the departments concerned. Regular awareness campaigns are set up to bring certain improvement actions to the attention of the staff (e.g. hand hygiene, fall prevention, medication safety, etc.).
As a patient, you can also do your part in monitoring your safety. More information is available under patient safety.
Quality measurements
In order to record the quality of our care in an objective manner, various aspects (e.g. patient identification, pressure ulcers, hand hygiene, infections, fall incidents ...) are regularly measured and monitored so that - if necessary - appropriate measures can be taken quickly. The results of these measurements are reported to the departments so that they can set up improvement projects in a process of continuous quality improvement.
In order to compare the results of these quality measurements with those of other hospitals, our hospital participates in the quality measurements of the Flemish Indicators Platform (VIP2). In order to make our quality of care more transparent for our patients and referring physicians, you will find below some results. You can view Sint-Trudo Hospital's results here .
What is VIP2?
VIP2 stands for Flemish Indicators Project for Patients and Professionals) and is an initiative launched in 2011 by the Flemish government, the Flemish Association of Chief Physicians, Zorgnet Vlaanderen and ICURO (the umbrella organization of Flemish hospitals with public partner.
The project aims to improve the quality of care by stimulating and facilitating the use of clinical process and outcome indicators. To this end, a basic set of indicators was developed for different domains. Pathology-specific indicators were selected for the domains of mother and child, orthopedics (hip and knee replacement), cardiology (myocardial infarction) and oncology (breast cancer). Hospital-wide, a number of cross-disease quality criteria were grouped (including hand hygiene, patient identification, patient satisfaction, patient information).
Hospitals can voluntarily participate in the project and can then compare their own results with the (hospital anonymous) results of the other participating hospitals. St. Trudo Hospital participates in all VIP2 measurements.
Click here for more background information about the VIP2 Project and working with indicators.
Results
You can view the results of the different quality indicators since June 2015 on the website zorgkwaliteit.be. This website aims to map the quality of care in Flemish hospitals and offers patients and professional caregivers the possibility to consult and compare the measured results per hospital. The measurements are done in collaboration with, among others, the Flemish government, the Flemish Association of Chief Physicians, the Flemish Patients Platform and the umbrella organization Zorgnet-ICURO.
For the following domains, the results are already available on the website of zorgkwaliteit.be:
- Breast cancer (diagnosis, treatment, survival)
- Rectal cancer (survival)
- Lung cancer (diagnosis, treatment, survival)
- Patient experience (patient satisfaction)
- Hospital-wide measurements (including hand hygiene, full drug prescription, patient identification, safe surgery checklist, vaccination rates)