Book Features Article Authored by Dignity Employees - KCOY Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo - News

Book Features Article Authored by Dignity Employees

SANTA MARIA, CA – (November 15, 2012) – Marian Regional Medical Center (MRMC), a Dignity Health member which also includes Arroyo Grande Community Hospital and French Hospital Medical Center, is proud to announce that one of its current employees and a retired employee are featured as authors in a recently published book titled, Great Health Care – Making It Happen.

Together, Kathleen Sullivan, RN, MSN, Vice President of Dignity Health Home Health, Hospice and Infusion Services, and retired employee Kathi Farrell, RN, BSN, former Congestive Heart Failure Program Coordinator, are the authors of Chapter 16 of Great Health Care. The contributors to the book share their stories, motivations and the methods they have used to transform care for their own patients within their own practices and health systems.

Chapter 16 details the hospitalization process for patients with congestive heart failure and outlines out how MRMC established and operates its successful Congestive Heart Failure program. A program of this kind is essential since each year approximately 25 percent of all patients diagnosed with congestive heart failure are readmitted within 30 days of discharge and efficient disease management programs can dramatically reduce readmission rates for a medical center. MRMC‟s comprehensive program, one highlighted as a best practice within Dignity Health, is successful through key processes such as standardized care assessments, patient and family education, a focus on discharge planning from the time of admission and follow up care calls to patients within 48 hours of discharge from the hospital.

The press release issued by Springer, the book‟s publishing company, states, Some [of the authors] hale from nationally recognized organizations, and others from community health systems , but all are considered to be „the best of the best‟ by their colleagues…Enlightening and entertaining, Great Health Care is a must read for physicians, patients, health policymakers, administrators and the interested public.

One of the book‟ editors, J. Timothy Harrington, remarks in his editor‟ comments, The Marian experience demonstrates the value of nurse management supported by disease population registries. Their performance monitoring and continuous improvement approach are exemplary."

Kathi Farrell retired from MRMC in late 2011. For more information about the Kathleen Sullivan and Kathi Farrell‟s published article, please contact MRMC Media Relations at (805) 739-3594.