News
Beebe Board of Directors Honors Surgeon for Quality Improvement Initiative
05/02/08
The Board of Directors of Beebe Medical Center has honored Lewes surgeon Michele Thomas, MD, for her efforts to improve the quality of care provided to surgical patients at Beebe Medical Center.
Dr. Thomas' recognition stems from the initiative she took to enroll Beebe Medical Center into the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP), an established, outcomes-based program to measure and improve the quality of surgical care. Nearly 200 medical facilities across the nation are involved.
"We wanted something that would give us a benchmark so that we knew we were doing a good job, and something that would help us make improvements," says Dr. Thomas.
She explained that because so many healthcare organizations are involved in the program, the American College of Surgeons has a bank of resources from which to obtain successful, high quality processes to share with participating organizations.
Dr. Thomas, the Vice Chief of Surgery at Beebe Medical Center, will serve as the program's Surgeon Champion, overseeing the collection of patient data, the development of the quarterly reports and the contact with the American College of Surgeons. A nurse reviewer will be dedicated full time to the program, and in addition to collecting data before, during and after each surgery, she will contact patients 30 days after their surgeries. Dr. Thomas will present findings regularly to the Beebe Medical Center board-level Quality and Safety Committee, which is made up of physicians, hospital administrators, board members and a dedicated community member who has spent a life-long career in environmental safety. The program will be underway soon.
"We at Beebe Medical Center take very seriously our responsibility to set the bar high," says Janet B. McCarty, Chair of the Beebe Medical Center Board of Directors. "This program will do an excellent job of supporting our goals and strategies, and we want to honor Dr. Thomas for her effort in introducing us to this program and for her ongoing efforts to improve the services that Beebe Medical Center provides."
Mrs. McCarty presented the award to Dr. Thomas at a recent Board of Directors' meeting. Dr. Thomas has been a member of the Beebe Medical Center Medical Staff since 1997. She earned her medical degree at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and completed a residency in general surgery at St. Mary's Hospital in Waterbury, CT. Dr. Thomas is Board Certified in General Surgery and Colon & Rectal Surgery.
Caption: Janet B. McCarty, Chair of the Beebe Medical Center Board of Directors, left, poses with surgeon Michele Thomas, MD, who holds her award.
Beebe Medical Center is a not-for-profit community medical center with a charitable mission to encourage healthy living, prevent illness, and restore optimal health with the people residing, working, or visiting in the communities we serve. For more information, please visit us online at www.beebemed.org
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