Dedication to care is recognized

A dedication to high-quality care earned Kara Jackson, Quality Director at Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County, recognition as a finalist for the Norman S. Holt Award for Nursing Excellence during the Wyoming Hospital Association's Conference Aug. 30-31.

"Being nominated for this award is such an honor. I am so grateful to my team, our leadership team, and our staff at the hospital," Jackson said. "What we do here requires collaboration and determination and we look forward to continuing to improve care for our patients and our community."

Jackson, who has more than 13 years of experience, and her department are responsible for accreditation, patient safety, and risk. She has experience as a medical/surgical floor nurse, ICU nurse, surgery clinic nurse and quality analyst.

"Her knowledge, experience, expertise, and quality leadership impact the quality and safety of patients, families, and staff throughout the organization, making her a perfect candidate for the Norman S. Holt Award for Nursing Excellence," said MHSC Chief Clinical Officer Kari Quickenden in a letter of nomination.

"Ms. Jackson's skills and knowledge positively impact those who interact with her," said MHSC Chief Nursing Officer Ann Clevenger in a letter of nomination. "She demonstrates a steadfast commitment to quality and quality improvement."

Due to her diligence, every hospital department from Physician Recruitment to Environmental Services to ICU participates in quality improvement projects and presents via the formal Performance Improvement and Patient Safety Committee. Jackson's influence on quality improvement is evident as various clinical and non-clinical departments are excited and proud to present their work, according to a nomination letter.

Jackson chairs the Health Equity Team at MHSC. As she has proven with other initiatives, she is thoughtful yet meticulous in embracing health equity, according to a nomination letter. She considers the "why" in the messaging, frontline staff education, data collection, data validation, and maps out a strategy for the team. In doing so, she garners the respect of her peers as she is organized, articulate, and reflective.

Under her direction, the Quality Department rebuilt and relaunched MHSC's Patient Safety Program. The rebuild included the required culture of safety survey administration, development of a comprehensive Patient Safety Program document, staff education, a dedicated Patient Safety Committee with physician participation, building a new user-friendly occurrence reporting system to track patient safety events, as well as regular patient safety rounding.

Jackson has provided creative and innovative ideas to MHSC in several areas, according to a nomination letter. An example is the combined administration of the culture of safety and employee engagement surveys.

For more on this and all Sweetwater Memorial has to offer, go to sweetwatermemorial.com.