FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Blanchfield Army Community Hospital is among 78 hospitals nationwide recently recognized by the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program for surgical patient care.

During an award ceremony held in conjunction with his visit to Fort Campbell last month, Brig. Gen. Lance Raney, Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Readiness Command, East, and Director, Defense Health Network East presented a plaque from the ACS to representatives from Blanchfield’s Departments of Surgery and Quality Assurance.

“When you are in front of a patient, or you are part of a team that is giving care or you are responsible for a team that is giving care, we need to do the right thing. We have to get healthcare right. If it is not first, if it is not the priority, then people die. So, thank you for getting it right,” said Raney, to the assembled group of healthcare providers.

As a participant in ACS NSQIP, BACH Departments of Surgery and QA staff track the outcomes of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures and collect data that assesses patient safety. This data can be used to direct improvement in the quality of surgical care.

To be eligible the hospital’s program leads collected and submitted data for calendar years, 2022, 2021, and 2020.

“There had to be enough cases abstracted to be in consideration for the award,” said Ladonna Sanders, a Surgical Case Reviewer from BACH’s Department of Quality and Safety, who worked with fellow SCR Mary Litchfield. They designated BACH DOS Surgeon Champion and Orthopedic Surgeon, Col. (Dr) Roxanne Wallace, to track and compile the three years of required data from inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures performed at BACH.

The program measures actual surgical results 30 days postoperatively as well as risk adjustments for patient characteristics to compensate for differences among patient populations and acuity levels.

ACS NSQIP is a major program used in more than 850 adult and pediatric hospitals nationwide. The focus is on reducing surgical morbidity caused by infection or illness related to a surgical procedure and surgical mortality related to a surgical procedure, and to provide a firm foundation for surgeons to apply what is known as the “best scientific evidence” to the practice of surgery, according to an ACS statement included with BACH’s selection letter.

“This is a national program that critically analyzes our surgical outcomes,” explained Jim Nix, the hospital’s deputy commander for Quality and Safety, during the award presentation.

Nix explained that in 2019 his team set a goal to make the ACS NSQIP list for healthcare outcomes at Blanchfield because it is the only nationally validated quality improvement program that measures and enhances the care of surgical patients.

“So, this is a big deal for us, and we are so proud to recognize our program and our program leads for this,” said Nix.

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 90,000 members and it is the largest organization of surgeons in the world.