Patient Care and Technology

Aultman invests in new technology, facility upgrades and service expansion to continuously improve the care provided for patients and their families. 

Considering the new technology investments we make year after year, Aultman’s health-care costs are still among the most affordable in Ohio. Following is just a sampling of the investments in enhanced patient care we made in 2007.

I-CAN Integration
Implementation of Aultman’s new clinical information system, called the Integrated Clinical Access Network (I-CAN), continued in 2007.

I-CAN has enabled Aultman to transition many paper forms – such as provider notification forms and critical results forms – to electronic versions. The paperless system has improved information flow and efficiency.

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)
The Aultman Cancer Center offers the latest image-guided radiation therapy technology – used to treat prostate and other cancers with pinpoint accuracy and fewer side effects. With IMRT, the computer-controlled X-ray beams precisely attack malignant tumors from all directions with radiation, while the surrounding normal tissues remain healthy.

Open MRI
A new .7 magnet open MRI is now available at Aultman North. The equipment features an extra-wide, movable table to accommodate more complex exams and provide more space for patient comfort.

PET/CT Scanning
Aultman began offering PET/CT scans in 2007, which increase diagnostic confidence and improve patient management with faster scan times and higher-quality images. PET/CT is a noninvasive procedure that provides unique information about the body’s metabolism, cell function and exact location of a disease.

Dialysis Center Renovation
The Aultman Dialysis Center has been expanded to include an additional 12 dialysis stations – in addition to the renovation of 15 existing stations. The added stations will enable the center to increase to 162 patients weekly.

Medical/Surgical Unit Renovation
The newly renovated Medical/Surgical Unit on Memorial 6 East includes many patient-friendly features, along with improvements to help the medical staff work more efficiently.

Expansion of Child Life Services
Aultman expanded child life services from the Children’s Emergency Department to additional patient-care areas of the hospital such as Same-Day Surgery and the Pediatric Inpatient Unit. Child life specialists minimize stress for children and prepare kids and their families for health-care experiences.

Rapid Response Teams and Stroke Alert Team
Aultman’s Rapid Response Team (RRT) provides quick assessment and intervention at the patient’s bedside – to help prevent cardiac arrest and improve patient outcomes.

The team is available 24 hours a day, with an average response time of less than three minutes. As a result, “code blue” emergencies have steadily decreased as the number of Rapid Response Team calls rises.

In 2007, Aultman also implemented a Rapid Response Team for in-house strokes. A team consisting of an ICU nurse and a respiratory therapist responds to patients’ bedsides and follows specific guidelines for the rapid evaluation and treatment of patients with signs and symptoms of stroke.

Aultman Referral Center
The Aultman Referral Center is an outreach program for families of patients transferred to Aultman for tertiary care. Families receive a facility tour and information about Aultman services and other assistance families may need.
 
Tobacco-Free Campus
Tobacco use around Aultman facilities has posed health and safety risks for patients, visitors and employees. We instituted a tobacco-free policy in July 2007.

For smokers who want help quitting, Aultman offers the American Cancer Society’s FreshStart program. The program is designed for adult smokers, and Aultman offers it free of charge to employees and members of the community.

Aultman-Quality Care

Aultman uses a variety of tools to measure the quality and value of the health care we provide. We survey thousands of patients each year and compare our results to industry standards. We strive to achieve awards that recognize the quality of our patient care. 

Consumer Choice Award
For the 12th consecutive year, Aultman Hospital earned the "Consumer Choice Award" and was named the Canton-Metro area and Stark County's "Most Preferred Hospital for Overall Quality and Image" by National Research Corporation (NRC).

Beacon Award for Nursing Excellence
The Aultman Cardiovascular Surgical Intensive Care Unit received the 2007-2008 Beacon Award for excellence in intensive care nursing from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

Magnet Award
Aultman received the distinguished Magnet™ award in recognition of nursing excellence. Our nurses and the entire interdisciplinary team demonstrated a continued effort to disseminate successful practices and strategies to promote quality patient outcomes.

AultCare NRC Customer Care Award
AultCare received the 2006-2007 Customer Care Award for Ohio from National Research Corporation. AultCare achieved the highest member satisfaction ranking in the state of Ohio.

American College of Radiology “Center of Excellence”
Aultman’s Breast Care Center is accredited by the American College of Radiology. The designation signifies Aultman has the medical personnel, facilities training and equipment to meet or exceed nationally accepted standards in patient care, quality and safety.  The Aultman Breast Care Center is the only Stark County facility to have earned the American College of Radiology’s “Center of Excellence” designation. 

Get With The Guidelines
Aultman was recognized for significant achievement in implementing the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines (GWTG) quality improvement program for treating heart and stroke patients.  The designation rewards Aultman’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart disease and stroke patients.

New Accreditations in 2007

Ultrasound
The Aultman Ultrasound Department successfully passed the American College of Radiology (ACR) Accreditation Survey and has been granted ACR accreditation. U.S. accreditation requires an 85 percent pass rate, and the Aultman Ultrasound Department passed at an impressive 98.9 percent.

Aultman Woodlawn
The Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit at Aultman Woodlawn received a three-year accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF).  Aultman Woodlawn is the eighth inpatient rehab unit in Ohio to be designated as a stroke specialty center – and the only one in our five-county market.

Acute Care Specialty Hospital
The Acute Care Specialty Hospital, which provides long-term acute care for patients with complex medical conditions, achieved Joint Commission accreditation in 2007.

Patient Satisfaction

Each month, a satisfaction survey is mailed to a random sampling of Aultman patients who received inpatient, outpatient, emergency department, immediate care and other services.  Patients rate Aultman on everything from the timeliness of testing to care physicians and nurses provide to facility cleanliness. In 2007, Aultman consistently scored above national benchmarks in the nursing, emergency department, inpatient, outpatient and immediate care categories.