Quality and Patient Safety

Our Quality Commitment

Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital is dedicated to the people of San Benito County to provide emergency, trauma, medical, surgical, skilled nursing, and outpatient clinic care to each of our patients. Our team consists of dedicated leaders, physicians, nurses, staff, and volunteers who are committed to delivering high quality and safe patient care.
Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital is accredited by The Joint Commission (TJC) that is globally recognized as a symbol of quality, which reflects our commitment to compliance with TJC quality and safety standards.

Continuous Improvement

Quality Improvement is a collaborative effort of leadership, physicians, nurses, employees, and our patients. This healthcare team takes great pride in the quality of care we deliver to our patients. A continual focus on patient experience and providing the best care to each patient demonstrates our commitment to the community we serve.

As part of our culture of safety, Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital has multiple performance improvement projects and teams to review patient care practices and make changes that will result in better care. Examples of these include Daily Patient Care Huddles, Diabetes Education and Treatment, Antibiotic Stewardship, Medication Error Reduction, Sepsis Management, Infection Prevention, Patient Flow, Fall Prevention, Environmental Safety, and Hand Hygiene.

Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital has collaborated with multiple state and national organizations that provide support and guidance to help hospitals improve the safety of healthcare systems. Some of these include California Hospital Association, Association of California Healthcare Districts (ACHD), National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF), BETA Healthcare Group, California Health Care Safety Net Institute, Hospital Quality Institute, California Hospital Patient Safety Organization (CHPSO), Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality (CIHQ), and California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC).

Measuring Quality

Hospitals measure quality and safety through monitoring key performance metrics. The data below demonstrates some of our improvement projects that show the excellent patient care we provide in comparison to state and national benchmarks.

To view complete Quality Report click here

Cesarean Section Rate

Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital has a lower Cesarean Section Rate than the California average for First Deliveries by promoting vaginal birth through labor positioning, reducing inductions without medical reason, and physician standardized definitions for labor progress.

Skin to Skin at Delivery and Breastfeeding First Hour of Life

The Golden Hour is a critical time when a newborn is placed on the mom skin-to-skin and fed within the first hour of life. It is uninterrupted time. There are many benefits to skin-to-skin and early breastfeeding. For the baby, it can stabilize heartbeat and breathing, more successful long-term breastfeeding, and quicker body temperature adjustment after delivery. Mom benefits from an increase in hormones that helps lower her blood pressure and stress levels, decrease post-delivery bleeding and produce more milk for breastfeeding. Support for skin-to-skin and breastfeeding in the first hour of life has been proven to increase success with exclusive breastfeeding.

Exclusive Breastfeeding - Baby Friendly

Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital is moving forward with the requirements to be designated as a Baby Friendly Hospital. This process involves educating moms on breastfeeding, supporting their choices, making skin-to-skin at delivery the culture, even with cesarean sections, and encouraging breastfeeding within the golden hour. Measuring improvements in exclusive breastfeeding rate is one of the requirements to achieve Baby Friendly designation.