Long Beach Medical Center Initiates NYS Gold STAMP Collaborative Program in Long Beach
Long Beach Medical Center (LBMC) is pleased to announce its participation in a New York State public health program, the Gold STAMP Collaboration, to reduce pressure ulcers. The acronym STAMP stands for Sucess Through Assessment, Management and Prevention.
Developed by the New York State Department of Health and the Hospital Association of New York State (HANYS), the Gold STAMP program promotes collaboration among long-term care facilities in Long Beach and Long Beach Medical Center in implementing evidenced-based practices to improve the assessment, management and prevention of pressure ulcers.
Partners in the Long Beach collaborative include the Hospital, its certified Home Care Agency, The Komanoff Center for Geriatric and Rehabilitative Medicine, the Grandell Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, and Park Avenue Extended Care Center.
Douglas Melzer, CEO at Long Beach Medical Center, stated,“This program will help ensure a coordinated continuation of quality pressure ulcer care when a patient or resident is transferred between organizations.”
According to a 2007 article published in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, pressure ulcers cause considerable harm to patients, hindering functional recovery, frequently causing pain, and often serving as vehicles for the development of serious infections.
Pressure ulcers have also been associated with extended length of stay, sepsis and mortality. Nearly 60,000 US hospital patients are expected to die each year from complications due to hospital-acquired pressure ulcers.
The estimated cost of managing a single, full thickness pressure ulcer is as high as $70,000 and the total cost for treatment of pressure ulcers in the United States is estimated at $11 billion per year.
Under the guidelines of the program, a single communication tool will be used when a resident is transferred between facilities and includes risk factors, standardized pressure ulcer staging, treatments, and equipment used to ensure the receiving facility maintains the current pressure ulcer treatment plan.
Prevention and quality care of pressure ulcers is a priority at Long Beach Medical Center. The Medical Center was awarded the 2010 Patient Safety Initiative Award from Island Peer Review Organization (IPRO) and the 2011 Best Practices Award by Physicians’ Reciprocal Insurers (PRI) in recognition of outstanding achievement in improving pressure ulcer care across the Medical Center’s continuum.
Long Beach Medical Center offers state-of-the-art wound care services, including Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, a unique treatment that enhances the body's natural healing and strengthens the immune system by inhalation of 100% oxygen. To learn more about wound care and hyperbaric therapy, please click here.