Community Hospital vice president wins national infection-prevention
award
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Brenda Moore (831) 625-4544
Communication
and Marketing: (831) 625-4505
MONTEREY, Calif. — Community Hospital’s Dr. Anthony Chavis,
vice president of medical affairs and patient safety officer, has earned
national recognition for his efforts to ensure patient safety through infection
prevention and control.
Chavis was named the 2011 Healthcare Administrator by the Association
for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (APIC), an international
organization with more than 14,000 members. The award recognizes his leadership
in developing and adopting infection-prevention and control measures, including:
- Creating a new position of medical
director of infection control, whose responsibilities include providing staff
and medical staff education on best practices, acting as a liaison with
doctors, and supporting infection control staff.
- Establishing a program that reduced
surgical-site infections from 2.7 percent to 0.7 percent. The national average
is now 2.3 percent.
- Improving early identification of
tuberculosis cases, reducing potential exposures.
- Advancing adoption of computerized
patient records, which reduces time spent reviewing charts, improves access to
infection histories, and promotes early detection and analysis.
“Dr. Chavis has championed
infection-control efforts to ensure the safety of the patients we serve,” says
Dr. Steven Packer, president and CEO of Community Hospital. “We’re pleased that the innovative,
collaborative work he and our clinical and medical staffs are doing is being
recognized on the national level.”
Chavis will receive the
award in June at the annual conference of the infection control association.
“This award is really a
testament to the hard work of frontline staff who diligently ensure patient
safety every day,” Chavis says. “I just try to make sure they have the
tools and materials they need to master their trade.”
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ABOUT COMMUNITY
HOSPITAL
Community Hospital
of the Monterey Peninsula, established in 1934, has
grown and evolved in direct response to the changing healthcare needs of the
people it serves. It is a nonprofit healthcare provider with 205 staffed
acute-care hospital beds and 28 skilled-nursing beds, delivering a continuum of
care from birth to end of life, and every stage in between. It serves the Monterey Peninsula
and surrounding communities through locations including the main hospital,
outpatient facilities, satellite laboratories, a mental health clinic, a
short-term skilled nursing facility, Hospice of the Central Coast,
and business offices. Find more information about Community
Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula
at http://www.chomp.org/