Safety Star Award

Safety Star Award is sponsored by LHA Trust Funds. Recognizes Louisiana healthcare facilities demonstrating significant improvements in patient and organizational safety through innovative practices.

Safety Star Award | Healthcare Safety Awards Nominations Open: September 10, 2026 Final Deadline: October 22, 2026 Announce Winners: January 5, 2027 Members of the LHA Malpractice and General Liability Trust Fund who can demonstrate improved patient or organizational safety from new technology, improved processes, or new programs are eligible to apply!

Safety Star nominations must be submitted through CHER®, our learning management system. Here are four, easy steps to get started on your 2026 Safety Star nomination application: Click the "Grants & Awards" button, located in the navigation menu, to redirect to the Safety Star application. Click the "Continue" button, located under the Safety Star application – submission form section.

Congratulations to Our 2025 Safety Star Award Recipients West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital has been recognized as the first-place winner of the 2025 Safety Star Award by the Louisiana Hospital Association Trust Funds (LHA Trust Funds). This prestigious award recognizes healthcare facilities that have made significant strides in patient or organizational safety innovation.

Through its project From Improvement to Sustainability: Enhancing Sepsis Bundle Compliance Through Targeted Education and Improved Documentation, West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital strengthened sepsis care in the Emergency Department by improving SEP-1 sepsis bundle compliance.

Using a structured Plan-Do-Study-Act approach, the team implemented standardized workflows, enhanced EMR tools, introduced targeted staff education, and integrated real-time monitoring to ensure timely, accurate documentation of all SEP-1 bundle elements.

Interventions included EMR hard stops to support early sepsis recognition, updated decision-tree templates, improved communication tools, and ongoing coaching for both clinical and support staff. As a result, the hospital elevated SEP-1 compliance, surpassing the national benchmark—and established a sustainable system that strengthens patient safety, improves early sepsis detection, and reduces preventable harm.

This project not only improved quality metrics but also fostered better clinical communication, enhanced teamwork, and created reliable, repeatable processes that ensure every sepsis patient receives timely, evidence-based care. St. James Parish Hospital St.

James Parish Hospital has been recognized as the second-place winner of the 2025 Safety Star Award by the Louisiana Hospital Association Trust Funds (LHA Trust Funds). This prestigious award recognizes healthcare facilities that have made significant strides in patient or organizational safety innovation. Through its project From Call Light to Connected Care: Advancing Safety, Communication, and Engagement, St.

James Parish Hospital replaced its aging nurse call system with a fully integrated digital care-board platform—an upgrade that fundamentally improved patient safety, communication, and care coordination across the organization.

By implementing a modern, EHR-connected nurse call and digital care-board system, the hospital created a real-time communication hub that displays individualized care plans at the bedside, supports visual monitoring for high fall-risk patients, enables virtual family participation, and expands telehealth access.

A multidisciplinary team led by Nursing, Quality, and IT customized workflows, integrated safety prompts, and built dynamic tools that enhanced transparency and responsiveness for both staff and families. Within the first year, the impact was significant. Nurse–patient communication scores rose, and discharge information scores increased, reflecting improved clarity and understanding at the bedside.

Inpatient falls dropped to zero in the year following implementation, supported by nearly 70 uses of the system’s visual monitoring feature. Teleconsultations nearly tripled, and families participated in more than 170 virtual rounds, strengthening connection and trust. This innovative project not only met its goals—it exceeded expectations, elevating safety, communication, and engagement throughout the hospital.

St. James Parish Hospital’s commitment to modernizing care delivery demonstrates how thoughtful technology adoption can create safer environments and more meaningful patient and family experiences. Union General Hospital has been recognized as the third-place winner of the 2025 Safety Star Award by the Louisiana Hospital Association Trust Funds (LHA Trust Funds).

This prestigious award recognizes healthcare facilities that have made significant strides in patient or organizational safety innovation. Through its project Empowering Teams to Act Fast: Reducing Sepsis-Related Risk through Safety and Training, Union General Hospital strengthened sepsis performance across the Emergency Department and inpatient units.

Anchored in evidence-based best practices and aligned with national sepsis guidelines, the initiative focused on four critical areas: standardized protocols, enhanced staff education, real-time alerts, and continuous data monitoring. The hospital revised its Sepsis Policy and Sepsis STAT Standing Orders, implemented mandatory screening at triage, and established clear workflows for rapid activation of the Hour-1 Sepsis Bundle.

Staff received targeted training, simulation-based education, and quick-reference tools to reinforce early recognition and escalation procedures. By building a culture of rapid response, accountability, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Union General Hospital created a sustainable sepsis management model that enhances patient safety, reduces complications, and supports timely, consistent delivery of high-quality care.