St. Christopher's Hospital Receives Achievement Award from Hospital Association of Pennsylvania

Hospital outreach program recognized for innovation in health care

St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children received one of 17 awards from the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) in its 2010 Achievement Award program. HAP’s Achievement Awards recognize the most innovative hospital programs in the state. More than 130 hospital programs competed.

St. Christopher’s “Rapid HIV Testing in a Pediatric Emergency Department” program was recognized in the “Patient Care” category. The primary objective of this program was to establish a rapid HIV testing program in the Emergency Department that addressed the attitudes and preferences of adolescent patients in regard to rapid HIV testing.

Adolescent patients treated in St. Christopher’s Emergency Department who participated in a rapid HIV prevention and testing program were surveyed about their attitudes and preferences toward rapid HIV testing and the need for pre- and post-test counseling and future plans for HIV testing. Surveys showed that patients preferred rapid HIV testing to be available in the ED and that they believed pre- and post-testing counseling was beneficial.

With the support and guidance of physician and nursing leadership, St. Christopher’s implemented a Rapid HIV Testing Initiative facilitated by a state-certified Health Educator/HIV Testing Specialist who was available during peak times to conduct rapid HIV testing and counseling in the ED and Urgent Care section. When the HIV Testing Specialist was not available, specially trained nursing staff conducted the testing, with physicians counseling patients.

Since hiring the HIV Testing Specialist in June 2008, approximately 650 patients have been tested per year, including a large number of at-risk youth, who would not have been tested for HIV otherwise. As a result of the program’s implementation they have been provided with the counseling and medical care they require.

Since 1875, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children has been providing exceptional patient care and advancing new pediatric treatments through research and innovation. Through affiliations with Drexel University College of Medicine and Temple University School of Medicine, St. Christopher’s is a teaching hospital helping to train the next generation of professionals in pediatric medicine.

The 189-bed hospital is committed to delivering high quality family- and patient-centered care to children from throughout the Philadelphia area and around the world. Its highly acclaimed programs include its Level I Pediatric Trauma Center; Level IIIC NICU, which is the highest NICU designation; Heart Center, Oncology/Transplant; as well as its Burn Center, which is the only dedicated pediatric burn center in the area. In 2009, St. Christopher’s achieved Magnet status, which is one of the nation's highest forms of recognition for nursing excellence, and numerous St. Chris physicians were recognized in regional publications as being “Top Docs” in their fields.

To learn more about St. Christopher’s, visit www.stchristophershospital.com. St. Christopher’s can also be found on Facebook at facebook.com/StChrisHospital and on Twitter at twitter.com/stchrishospital.  

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