Clinical Excellence

Patient Provider Award of the Year for Saint Mary’s

At the Mardi Gras Ball hosted by National Kidney Foundation of Michigan’s, Saint Mary’s Health Care was presented with the “Patient Provider of the Year Award.” Phil McCorkle, Saint Mary’s President and CEO, graciously accepted the award on our behalf.

The is award was given in recognition of the high success rate of kidney transplants at Saint Mary’s Kidney Transplant Center, which has completed more than 1,780 transplants to date. Although the average length of time for a kidney transplant to function is about 15 years, Saint Mary's has three patients who still have functioning kidneys they received 38 years ago.

Attended by more than 300 people, this was the first annual for the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan, held at the Saint Nicholas Cultural Center on March 5, 2011.

Check out the coverage of the award by The Grand Rapids Press! 

Saint Mary’s First Michigan Hospital to Receive Inpatient Diabetes Certification from The Joint Commission

One in six Americans has diabetes, a chronic disease that requires constant management and clinical expertise. Saint Mary’s Health Care has long shared its clinical expertise in diabetes, and has now been recognized for its proficiency by The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). On January 8, 2011, The Joint Commission reviewed the Inpatient Diabetes Program at Saint Mary’s and granted the organization the “Inpatient Diabetes Certification.” Saint Mary’s is the first hospital in the state of Michigan to receive this certification.

According to The Joint Commission’s congratulatory letter: “This process is designed to help your organization continuously provide safe, high-quality care, treatment, and services by identifying opportunities for improvement in your processes and helping you follow through on and implement these improvements. We encourage you to use the certification process as a continuous standards compliance and operational improvement tool.”

Dr. Larry McCahill Study Published in The American Journal of Surgery

In March 2011, the research of Larry McCahill, MD, medical director of Surgical Oncology, was published in The American Journal of Surgery. His study, Local recurrent after partial mastectomy: Relation to initial surgical margins, analyzed how surgeons operate on breast cancer patients differently, with great variations, and discussed the outcomes for those patients. (Larry McCahill is pictured to the left.)

Bridget Graham Selected as Expert on CNL Role!

Less than a year after obtaining the title of Clinical Nurse Leader, Bridget Graham, RN, CNL, was selected by the Commission on Nurse Certification (CNC) as one of 12 subject matter experts (SMEs). In this role, Graham will be assisting with the various stages of the job analysis, including development of the survey instrument, review of the body of knowledge, and finalizing the JA with the testing agency. All SMEs have to be employed in a CNL role and be a certified CNL.

Congratulations to Graham as she helps shape the role of the Clinical Nurse Leader throughout the entire country!