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About Banner Health  
Medical Excellence
surgeons at work  

At Banner Health, our patients can be assured that every possible step is being taken to ensure they receive the highest quality and safest care possible.  We believe using technology and innovation to support our caregivers’ efforts will help us provide excellent patient care.

Care Transformation
Banner Health has embarked on an ambitious initiative that unites best practices in clinical care with leading-edge clinical computer systems to provide better, safer care to patients.  The intent of Care Transformation is to place patient information at caregivers’ fingertips by using an integrated electronic medical record that will contain lab results, doctors’ and nurses’ notes and charting, and medical images. Our goal is to implement the foundation for our electronic medical record in all Banner Health facilities by the end of 2008. The model for Care Transformation was first implemented at Banner Estrella Medical Center when it opened in January 2005. Early results at Banner Estrella are very positive, and prove the Care Transformation has positively impacted patient safety, cost savings, productivity, patient satisfaction and staff retention.

Performance Measurement
On a daily basis, Banner Health measures the clinical quality of patient care in key areas like open-heart surgery, stroke, ICU and heart failure.  By comparing outcomes in these areas with other leading health care organizations, we are able to identify best practices and implement them throughout all our facilities as we strive to provide excellent patient care. 

Patient Safety
One of our core areas of focus is patient safety.  Patient safety committees work diligently within our facilities, plus we provide pertinent information to all of our inpatients to educate them on the positive role they can play to ensure their safety. Banner Health also plays a leadership role in several nationwide patient safety efforts, including the 5 Million Lives campaign, which aims to dramatically reduce incidents of medical harm in U.S. hospitals. Additionally, we have taken the following steps to further enhance our efforts in this area:

  • Rapid Response Teams include physicians and nurses trained to intervene to provide help before a medical emergency arises.
  • Medication reconciliation ensures that patients receive the right medication at all times and that helps eliminate errors that occur during transition points in the hospital (admissions, transfer from one unit to another, discharge).
  • A systemwide complaint and grievance process was implemented to ensure responsiveness to patient concerns.

Leading through
Several innovative technologies have helped Banner to continually improve patient care.  Three significant innovations are e-ICU, surgical robotics and the IPRob obstetrical system.

  • iCare Intensive Care
    Banner Health was the first health care provider in the communities we serve to implement   eICU technology through our iCARE Intensive Care program, which allows for continuous monitoring of ICU patients by intensive care physicians from a remote monitoring center. From Banner’s iCARE “command center” at Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, Ariz., intensivist physicians and ICU nurses working at computer stations are able to support the care of bedside clinical staff working in ICUs throughout our facilities.

    eICU technology has been shown to significantly decrease patient complications and mortality. Banner’s iCARE is now operational at four hospitals in Arizona and one in Colorado, with the goal that every ICU bed in Banner will be part of the iCARE intensive care monitoring within the next two years.
  • Surgical Robotics
    Five Banner facilities have implemented an advanced surgical robotics technology to expand the ability of surgeons to perform complicated procedures with fewer, smaller incisions. Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci® Surgical System is designed to extend the benefits of minimally invasive procedures and provides surgeons with the clinical and technical capabilities of traditional open surgery. Surgical robots perform minimally invasive cardiac, urological, pediatric, bariatric and general surgical procedures.  Robotics has proven to substantially decrease length of stay, reduce blood loss, decrease post-operative pain and enable a faster recovery. Surgical robots are in use at Banner Heart Hospital, Banner Boswell Medical Center, Banner Desert Medical Center, Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, Banner Thunderbird Medical Center and North Colorado Medical Center.
  • IPRob Obstetrical System
    Banner Health is the first health care system in the western United States to implement the IPRob obstetrical system which provides clinical decision support, documentation and monitoring to help reduce complications during childbirth, ensuring safe deliveries for the more than 30,000 babies born at Banner facilities each year. IPRob has been successfully launched in 13 Banner Health facilities.
  • Simulation Education and Training Center
    The new Simulation Education and Training Center (SimET) at Banner Good Samaritan in Phoenix, Ariz. opened in September 2006 and provides the most modern educational tools for medical residents, students, nurses and first responders seeking to learn or practice life-saving techniques. Some 200 residents a year, plus nurses, technicians and other personnel for emergency/trauma cases are expected to train at the center. Before ever touching a patient, these health care workers will have treated highly sophisticated computerized mannequins by starting their IVs, inserting chest and breathing tubes, administering medications and performing other common procedures. In addition to Banner Health employees, the center will also train Phoenix firefighters and paramedics free of charge.

Medical Education
Banner Health is a leading provider of well-trained and highly skilled physicians through medical education programs at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix, Ariz. and at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, Colo. These programs train nearly 260 doctors in residencies including family practice, internal medicine/pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, podiatry, psychiatry and surgery and fellowship programs including hepatology, gastroenterology, geriatrics, pulmonary/critical care, cardiology, interventional radiology, endocrinology, maternal-fetal medicine and toxicology.

In response to the ongoing shortage of key health care workers, Banner Health has developed the Banner Center for Health Careers as a long-term initiative to create a pool of qualified clinical professionals in nursing and other hard-to-fill areas such as pharmacy, medical imaging and respiratory therapy. 

Banner Health has provided nearly $5 million for the training of future doctors, nurses and therapists and the continuing education of current health care professionals