Mt. Pleasant, S.C. -  East Cooper Regional Medical Center, in its continuing commitment to patient safety, observed National Patient Safety Awareness Week on March 6-12.  Sponsored by the National Patient Safety Foundation, Patient Safety Awareness Week is an education and awareness-building campaign that seeks to improve patient safety and reduce medical errors.  The theme of this year’s observance was Ask, Listen & Learn and focused on effective communication as being the patient safety tool of choice.

During the past year, East Cooper Regional Medical Center has made numerous hospital-wide improvements to ensure improved patient, visitor and staff safety.  Among the improvements and resulting benefits are:

• New floors – helping to decrease slips and falls, easier to keep clean, helping decrease the chance of infection
• Alcohol dispensers in public restrooms – helping decrease the chance of infection
• Golf cart –safer transporting of patients and visitors
• Day Surgery waiting area redesigned – easier to view patients and visitors
• Cameras installed at Emergency Department entrance/exit – allowing staff to better respond
• Increased number of ACLS and BCLS instructors – allowing better professional development
• Implementation of web.edu – offering better opportunities for staff education
• New ID bands – helping identify patients who are at risk - red band being at risk for falls and green band being at risk for allergies
• Spectralink phones for staff members – allowing direct and immediate communication between patient and staff
• Work stations in patient hallways – allowing staff to be in closer proximity to their patients
• New medication dispensing system –  helping to decrease medication errors

East Cooper Regional Medical Center, part of Tenet South Carolina, is a 100-bed acute care hospital located at 1200 Johnnie Dodds Boulevard in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.  The hospital has been serving the medical and health care needs of the greater Mt. Pleasant community since 1986.  To learn more about East Cooper Regional Medical Center, visit www.eastcoopermedctr.com.