CEO Eric Lewis recognized seven Olympic Medical Center employees at a recent board of commissioners meeting for their work in improving anti-coagulation management for perioperative patients. They are:

• Karen Bright, registered pharmacist, director of pharmacy

• Leanne Shannon, short stay unit nurse

• George Suhr, clinical informatics analyst

• Sam Reynolds, clinical informatics senior analyst

• Paula Wahl, organizational performance improvement coordinator

• Dr. Kara Urnes, cardiologist

• Dr. Georgia Heisterkamp, general surgeon

This group worked collaboratively to create an improved system for instructing patients on when to stop taking anti-coagulants before surgery and when to resume after surgery, OMC representatives said.

“What makes this successful work particularly remarkable is that when the group researched other health care system practices, they found OMC is leading in developing a process to instruct patients,” chief medical officer Scott Kennedy said.

“Many organizations require the patient to determine how to obtain this needed information from their prescribing doctor. We wanted to provide a safe and smooth process for our patients.”