By Healthcare Facilities Today

The Minnesota Department of Health recently released its annual error report for hospitals. St. Joe’s in Hubbard County experienced a serious fall in which a patient suffered a broken bone during 2012-13. That was down from three serious incidents the year before, according to an article on the Park Rapids Enterprise website.

In addition to in-house improvements, hospital staff is trying to educate Hubbard County residents about the danger of falling and ways to prevent it.

Fifteen Minnesota hospital patients died last year from hospital errors that encompassed falls, wrong medications, wrong site surgeries and other serious medical errors, the article said.

St. Joe’s staff meets daily, weekly and monthly to prevent such in-patient mishaps and at least one committee is training its sights on the community at large.

“We’re learning that even falls in the community are an issue and I know now that even Department of Health and groups around the state are looking at fall prevention and to look at it from that perspective, not just falls in hospitals,” director of quality Chris Broeker said in the article.

The hospital also recently received a Catholic Health Initiatives grant to purchase four lower hospital beds so replacing all the beds will be a future priority. That will prevent many falls, Broeker said. Most falls occur when patients are getting up to the bathroom.

Read the article.