Walter Reed National Military Medical Center close out 2022 with first-place win at OR Managers Conference

Photo By Cherry Arora | Ignacia Joyner, RN, poses with first-place winner ribbon, following her team’s process improvement poster presentation at the OR Managers Conference, a meeting aimed at educating leaders responsible for perioperative care. The poster presentation addressed patient skin care injuries by identifying the gaps and implementing process improvements resulting in an 81-percent reduction in skin injuries during operating room procedures for the fiscal year 2022. The process improvement project poster, titled “8-Step Practical Problem-Solving Initiative/Skin Care Injuries in the Operating Room,” was submitted by Dr. Dana Koester, U.S. Navy Cmdr. (Dr.) Robert Call and Ignacia Joyner, RN.  

BETHESDA, MD, UNITED STATES

01.23.2023

Story by Cherry Arora 

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

Bethesda, Maryland (January 23, 2023) – Staff from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center’s (WRNMMC) Quality Directorate and Perioperative Surgery closed out 2022 with a first-place win at the OR Managers Conference, a meeting aimed at educating leaders responsible for perioperative care.

Dr. Dana Koester, U.S. Navy Cmdr. (Dr.) Robert Call and Ignacia Joyner, RN, submitted the winning process improvement poster, titled “8-Step Practical Problem-Solving Initiative/Skin Care Injuries in the Operating Room.”

The project addressed patient skin care injuries by identifying the gaps and implementing process improvements resulting in an 81-percent reduction in skin injuries during operating room procedures for the fiscal year 2022.

“This project is a win for our team closing out 2022,” shared Koester, WRNMMC’s Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and principal investigator for the project poster. “Once the gaps were researched and identified, processes were developed, and our team, along with operating room staff members, put them into practice.”

Koester added that in addition to ongoing surgical preparations through staff education and literature research, contributing factors to the process improvement’s success were conducting skin assessments pre/post procedure, proper positioning of the forced air warming blankets, and tugging the sheets under patients.

The award-winning project poster reinforces WRNMMC’s Quality and Perioperative Surgery teams continued commitment to providing the best patient experience through safe, quality, and compassionate care.

To learn more about Quality and Safety Reports, visit: https://walterreed.tricare.mil/About-Us/Quality-and-Safety-Reports

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About Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is one of the nation's largest and most renowned military medical centers. Recently dubbed "The Nation's Medical Center," we represent the joining of the "Best of the Best" in military medicine when National Naval Medical Center and Walter Reed Army Medical Center came together in September of 2011, to form Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as decreed by the Base Realignment and Closure law of 2005.
We are comprised of nearly 7,100 dedicated staff members who make it their daily mission to achieve the vision and mission of our medical center. Our vision is to serve military families and our nation's active duty, returning war heroes, veterans and our Nation's leaders.
We’re committed to operational readiness, outstanding customer service, and world-class health care delivery for our beneficiaries.

• Date Taken: 01.23.2023
• Date Posted: 01.23.2023 12:03
• Story ID: 437070
• Location: BETHESDA, MD, US