Portsmouth Regional Hospital & Diversified Clinical Services

When pressure ulcer rates escalated to 15%, Portsmouth Regional Hospital responded by partnering with Diversified Clinical Services, the leader in wound prevention and care, to deliver a comprehensive inpatient program. Established in 2001, the inpatient program yielded considerable improvements in both clinical and financial outcomes. With the hospital’s incidence of pressure ulcers now steadily at 1% or lower, Portsmouth Regional Hospital is enjoying even higher quality care, significant cost savings and reduction of risks.

Additionally, the inpatient program delivered greater efficiencies by decreasing the rental bed usage. According to Program Director Caroline Pierce, "Since the inception of the inpatient program, we have decreased the rental bed usage by 60% through the purchase of better surfaces and closer monitoring and education of nursing staff to help them identify high-risk patients upon admission."

By partnering with Diversified Clinical Services, the hospital has gained access to the most advanced technologies for effective wound care. "There is a lot of new technology that isn’t readily seen here at the hospital that can be introduced from the Wound Care Center so the patients are exposed to the most current products available," says General Surgeon Dr. Molly Buzdon of Portsmouth Regional.

Additionally, due to state-of-the-art treatments and healing protocols, the program has helped reduce length of stays significantly. This important patient benefit represents an equally important benefit for the hospital. Pierce says, "The inpatient program at Portsmouth Regional Hospital resulted in significant cost-avoidance by decreasing the patient length of stay by 6.75 days."

By setting up a successful inpatient program, the hospital has established an effective continuum of care for patients with chronic wounds. Inpatient Wound Care Coordinator Brenda Fritz, RN, responds to what she says is one of the greatest values the program provides to patients, "Before they leave the hospital, we are able to schedule patients for outpatient opportunities so they don’t get lost in the shuffle. The inpatient nurse as well as the outpatient nurses communicate with each other about what’s happened, what’s going on and what the plan of care is."