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4 <br />The first Care Goal, launched in 2007, was to improve the use of CPAP (continuous positive <br />airway pressure, used in patients with respiratory distress); we tried hard but didn’t meet <br />the goal. From 2008 on, however, we met each and every Care Goal, from improving care <br />for congestive heart failure patients to providing better pain management. <br />That’s no surprise to Susan Long, director of Clinical and Support Services, who has been <br />there every step of the way, providing Allina caregivers with training and practice to help <br />them focus on each year’s Care Goal. “Our providers go through multiple rounds of face-to- <br />face education, plus online education, practice scenarios, monthly case reviews and updates <br />on data collection,” she explains. <br />As the team began structuring the Care Goal procedures, they decided to use well- <br />defined steps: <br />FOCUS on an area of patient care that involves new equipment or is a corporate goal. <br />COMPILE current data and usage statistics and decide how they will be measured. <br />PUSH out training and education to EMS providers, physicians and administrators. <br />TRACK progress and give feedback on performance. <br />High-quality patient care: <br />it’s what we’re all about <br />High-Quality Patient Care <br />One cold Friday afternoon in December 2006, during the final hours of a three-day <br />Allina Health EMS senior quality summit, a new idea was launched: to establish an <br />annual “Care Goal” for the organization. Then-CEO Richard Pettingill already had <br />high standards for our employees, demanding excellence in patient care along <br />with purposeful tracking of that excellence. But he wanted to do more. <br />4