News Release

UT Southwestern Medical Center's Zale Lipshy University Hospital, Multi-Specialty Clinic recognized

Grant and Award Announcement

UT Southwestern Medical Center

Zale Lipshy University Hospital

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Credit: UT Southwestern

DALLAS - November 6, 2014 - Zale Lipshy University Hospital and the Multi-Specialty Clinic at UT Southwestern Medical Center each received the 2014 Press Ganey Beacon of Excellence Award for patient satisfaction.

It marked the second consecutive year for Zale Lipshy University Hospital to win the Beacon Award, which recognizes leading health care facilities that have achieved and consistently maintained high levels of excellence for multiple years, representing the three top-performing organizations in each category. Press Ganey partners with more than 11,000 health care facilities, including more than half of all U.S. hospitals, to measure and improve patient experience, and presents the Beacon Awards to about 40 organizations. UT Southwestern received other patient satisfaction awards from Press Ganey in 2011 and 2012 as well.

"UT Southwestern is steadfastly committed to patient satisfaction. It is the backbone of the health care we provide on a daily basis," said Dr. John Warner, Vice President and CEO of University Hospitals at UT Southwestern, who holds the Jim and Norma Smith Distinguished Chair for Interventional Cardiology and the Audre and Bernard Rapoport Chair in Cardiovascular Research. "This award reflects our commitment to patients, and it showcases the extra effort our hospital staff makes to ensure the highest quality patient care and experience."

Dr. Bruce Meyer, Executive Vice President for Health System Affairs, added, "The Press Ganey awards are especially meaningful because they are based on the opinions and feedback of our patients. The awards represent a consistent focus on the experience of care that our teams deliver to the patient and their family."

Zale Lipshy officials developed strategies for success from patient comments, employee engagement surveys, and site visits to other high-performing hospitals. Those efforts included making the hospital environment a peaceful, quiet place; anticipating the needs of patients and their families; resolving problems directly; and placing a high priority on the confidentiality of patients, families, and colleagues. The hospital began by reducing overhead paging, instituting daily hospital huddles, establishing an etiquette policy, reviewing patients' feedback during rounds, and reviewing special needs for patients to ensure better-informed hand-offs between nurses and other caregivers as shifts changed.

The Multi-Specialty Clinic, located in the Outpatient Building at UT Southwestern, is designed to offer all the major components of primary care in one convenient location, staffed with physician experts in Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, and Obstetrics and Gynecology. Clinic physicians specialize in the management of chronic diseases and conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and high blood pressure. Services include preventive health services such as physicals and vaccines; health management services such as help maintaining blood at therapeutic levels; chronic disease monitoring to help control blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol; weight monitoring; and contraception and menopause assistance, including decisions on hormone therapy, dry skin, insomnia, and other symptoms.

With the opening of UT Southwestern's new state-of-the-art, $800 million William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital in December 2014, Zale Lipshy University Hospital is poised to become the region's first dedicated, freestanding neuroscience facility, one of only a few in the country, and one of the world's premier neurological diagnostic and treatment centers. Specialties will include neurology, neurosurgery, neuroradiology and imaging, neuro-oncology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, orthopaedic spine, physical medicine and rehabilitation, psychiatry, and radiosurgery. Zale Lipshy also houses specialized, multidisciplinary programs that include treatments for cerebrovascular disease, complex spine disorders, conditions affecting the cranial base, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease.

Zale Lipshy University Hospital highlights include:

  • Certified stroke program staffed 24/7 by a specially trained multidisciplinary team that includes a telestroke program and stroke hotline (214-645-FAST)
  • Cutting-edge imaging with Aquilion One 320-slice CT scanner and 3T MRI
  • A 20-bed neuro intensive care unit (ICU) staffed by physicians trained in neurology and critical care
  • Multiroom, multimodal neuroangiography suite and hybrid neuro-angio operating room providing both diagnostic and minimally invasive treatment interventions
  • An 18-bed inpatient psychiatric unit supported by active ECT and neuromodulation programs that serve both inpatients and outpatients
  • A 42-bed rehabilitation unit that includes a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach in rehabilitating patients with functional impairments due to acute illness or injury
  • 13 spacious surgical suites equipped for state-of-the-art specialty surgery, as well as more common surgical procedures
  • Stereotactic services including the latest Gamma Knife and Accuray technology

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About UT Southwestern Medical Center

UT Southwestern, one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution's faculty includes many distinguished members, including six who have been awarded Nobel Prizes since 1985. Numbering approximately 2,800, the faculty is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide medical care in 40 specialties to about 92,000 hospitalized patients and oversee approximately 2.1 million outpatient visits a year.


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