Our Quality and Safety Program promotes care that is free from harm, achieves the best possible clinical results, and is delivered promptly with compassion.
Our program focuses on:
- Valuing the patient, their family and the overall experience
- Delivering the right care at the right time in the right place
- Eliminating hospital-acquired infections and preventable harm
- Promoting a culture of safety
- sing data to drive improvements in systems and processes
We foster a culture of “best practices” to ensure optimal patient care in the safest environment, using the expertise and innovative ideas of all our team members. We are continuously analyzing data and care protocols and processes to prevent and reduce infections and using new technology and ongoing education to provide the best quality care for patients.
Recent News
CAUTI Reduction
Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI) are an unfortunately common and significant healthcare associated infection. These infections are associated with increased length of stay, increased patient mortality, and increased costs of care. Thanks to the strong efforts of a multidisciplinary medical and nursing team we continue to ensure best practice is reflected in our policies, nursing staff feel empowered in catheter stewardship, and staff are appropriately educated in prevention strategies. Due to these measures, we continue to greatly exceed the CAUTI reduction goal established by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Hand hygiene
Being fully compliant with proper hand hygiene is critically important to minimize the risk of our patients developing a health care-associated infection. Proper hand hygiene is the single most important measure for preventing the spread of infection in healthcare settings. Penn State Health’s goal for all its hospitals is a 90% compliance rate. Through the efforts of our medical, nursing, and allied health staff, we’ve surpassed that goal each month this fiscal year, with an average compliance rate of 94%. This is a significant step in our journey to zero harm.
Fall Prevention
At Penn State Health St. Joseph, patient safety remains our top priority—especially when it comes to fall prevention. Over the past year, this has been a focused, all-hands-on-deck effort across all units. Monthly Situation- Background- Assessment- Recommendation (SBAR) reviews of fall events are shared during staff huddles to promote awareness and drive proactive interventions. Educational posters have been placed on units and in break rooms to reinforce the importance of frequent fall risk reassessments and consistent use of fall prevention alarms. We also introduced an innovative, immersive approach to education through virtual reality (VR) fall prevention training, with dedicated support to ensure all nursing staff could participate. In the Emergency Department, fall prevention efforts were enhanced with the implementation of securely locked fall boxes in every room. Additionally, during Skills Week 2025, we assessed staff knowledge and provided targeted re-education on fall prevention best practices. These reinforced efforts have our current fall rate standing at 2.18—well below our hospital benchmark goal of 2.29.