Aiken Regional Receives Zero Harm Award

Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Two female surgeons in the operating room

The South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) recently awarded Aiken Regional Medical Centers with a Zero Harm Award for zero surgical site infections during abdominal hysterectomies over a 30-month period. SCHA presented the award to Aiken Regional’s board of governors on Wednesday, April 3.

We're a Zero Harm Hospital badge“We are extremely proud of our Women’s LifeCare Center and their gynecologic surgical team,” said Mary Jane Karnes, Administrative Director of Quality Outcomes Management at Aiken Regional Medical Centers. “For them, a safe and successful surgery is what they achieve on a regular basis. To be recognized is an incredible honor.”

Learn more about the Aiken Women's LifeCare Center >

According to SCHA President and CEO Thornton Kirby, the awards are part of the Association’s efforts to guide and support the state’s hospitals in creating a culture of “Zero Harm” by recognizing the efforts of the amazing clinicians who work everyday to provide high quality care in South Carolina’s hospitals and health systems.​ SCHA launched its Zero Harm Awards in 2013 after years of supporting South Carolina hospitals which were already on the forefront of preventing medical errors. These errors have an economic impact that could reach $1 trillion annually. Thanks to a collaboration with The Duke Endowment and The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare, South Carolina hospitals were united in a statewide effort to create a culture of high reliability and reduce harm in their facilities by implementing robust, evidence-based practices that are making a positive impact on patients and the safety and quality of care.

“By celebrating our team in their success of an extended harm-free stretch in abdominal hysterectomies, we continue to highlight the importance of safety within our hospital and everyday practice,” said Jim O’Loughlin, Chief Executive Officer at Aiken Regional Medical Centers.

“This early success — expressed in lives saved and the resulting economic impact — strengthens our resolve to focus on safety, raise the bar of expectations, and challenge our hospitals to pursue zero harm,” says Kirby. “We’re in the business, after all, of saving lives. And that’s what the Zero Harm Awards are all about.”

All the hospital data used for these awards is also independently verified by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.