What’s NEW

Try a new volunteer opportunity!
Are you a customer-service oriented person who thrives on helping other people and being part of a team? As we plan our move into our new building for spring 2009, we need many more volunteers. We will help you identify if this is the right volunteer opportunity for you, train you and support you to be successful. Call Volunteer Services at 503-561-5277 today for an application and interview.

Services in Monmouth
If you live or work in the Monmouth-Independence area, the new Monmouth Medical Center at 512 Main Street, Suite 300, is now open to serve you. The clinic is open Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Fridays. To schedule an appointment, call 503-838-1388.

During the last several years, Salem Health has brought more than 60 physicians to the mid-Willamette Valley, including several new physicians to Polk County. The new clinic currently provides occupational and physical therapy. Family medicine physicians are being recruited to staff the clinic in the future.

Preventing infections
Salem Hospital is helping prevent methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a type of bacteria resistant to certain antibiotics, through an aggressive program to stop the spread of this infection.

The project includes the early identification and management of patients who are at high risk for developing and/or transmitting MRSA, as well as increased attention on proper hand-hygiene practices, thoroughly cleaning equipment and patient rooms, and using infection-control practices.

This is one of many projects the hospital has undertaken to improve patient safety and patient outcomes—all part of our commitment to providing quality care that is second to none. This initiative is part of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s national “Protecting 5 Million Lives From Harm” campaign, which focuses on improving patient safety. You can learn more about the group and its campaign at www.ihi.org.

Anticipating your needs
We are committed to providing services that exceed your expectations. Instead of waiting for you to ask for something when you are a patient, our nursing staff has been trained to meet your needs proactively.

You have heard about physicians who conduct daily rounds at the hospital. They check in with each of their patients to see how each one is doing and update the patient’s care plan based on the most current needs.

In what we are calling proactive hourly rounds, our nursing staff does the same. While patients have access to a call button, our proactive hourly rounds are done in such a way that we hope our patients will not need to use their call button very often.

Our nurses visit patients in their rooms at least once an hour, helping patients with those aspects of care for which call buttons are most frequently used, including pain management, help using the bathroom and help repositioning for comfort.

Since our nurses started proactive hourly rounds, we have seen improvements in patient satisfaction and safety. Proactive hourly rounds is just another example of the steps Salem Hospital is taking to live our commitment to exceed our patients’ expectations.