This article was contributed by Shelbourn Stevens, prior Senior VP and President of Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center and Coastal Market.


Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center Offers More to Community Through Collaboration

As a longtime leader at Novant Health, I have seen firsthand the dedication to patient safety and quality that is our hallmark. When Novant Health united with New Hanover Regional Medical Center, we shared a common belief: Safety is the foundation for everything we do in healthcare.
 
Now, as president of Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center, I can see how our team is working together to strengthen that foundation by sharing ideas and implementing best practices that will benefit everyone in our community.
 
Before the partnership, New Hanover Regional Medical Center was in the process of implementing new protocols for safety and quality. In 2019, Novant Health established its Institute for Safety and Quality, and through our partnership, we were able to quickly adopt the Institute’s analytics and safety tools, such as the “First Do No Harm” program. First Do No Harm encourages physicians and team members to practice with a questioning attitude. There is a continual emphasis on empowering team members to ask any question that ensures the safety of our patients, and we’ve found that teams function at their best in an environment based on mutual respect.
 
The effects of the partnership were immediately evident throughout the worst of the pandemic. Team members from New Hanover Regional Medical Center and across Novant Health collaborated and discussed how to best care for our patients – and our team members. We also teamed up to deliver vaccines and share personal protective equipment when COVID-19 was at its worst.

At New Hanover Regional Medical Center, we benefited from Novant Health’s data analysis that helped us predict the rapid spread of COVID-19 and the inevitable surges of patients.
 
As COVID lingers, this partnership continues to shape our everyday care in every discipline. Through the Novant Health institutes, our physicians have been able to share their expertise and ideas with their new colleagues and help refine Novant Health’s industry-leading best practices.
 
For example, we now use AI-based Viz.ai technology, which allows us to detect strokes much faster using telemedicine. And the ability to detect a stroke quickly can directly affect the patient’s ability to recover. And Novant Health’s bigger cache of data and expertise has helped us identify different chemotherapy “recipes” and how they are administered for best practice. The partnership also allows patients in the Coastal region to participate in clinical research studies that were not available before. The clinical protocols are the latest medical innovations available, and our patients don’t have to travel to access them.
 
Together, we are providing safe, quality care for our community. Though our success is measured by our patients and not by awards, we are proud to have been recognized by national organizations for our quality and safety.
 
But please take a moment to look at this condensed list, anyway. And know that we are committed to exceptional quality and safety today and in the future!
 
Here are some of the awards and recognitions we have earned:

• Comprehensive Stroke Center certification from DNV GL – Healthcare
• Recognized for excellence in preventing heart attacks and strokes by Million Hearts
• Get With The Guidelines — Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award from the American Stroke Association/ American Heart Association
• LGBTQ Health Care Equality Top Performer designation from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (2020)
• Blue Distinction Center+ designations for Bariatric Surgery, Knee and Hip Replacement, and Spine Surgery from Blue Cross Blue Shield
• Distinguished three-star rating for the NHRMC Heart Center from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons for its patient care and outcomes in isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures
• Betty H. Cameron Women's & Children's Hospital named one of Newsweek’s Best Maternity Hospitals 2022 
• Heart & Vascular Institute at Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center recently earned accreditation from the American College of Cardiology for its Congestive Heart Failure Program
• Novant Health recognized by Forbes as one of the best employers in the state in 2022

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Shelbourn Stevens is the prior Senior VP and President of Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center and Coastal Market. During his 30-year tenure with Novant Health, he has worked in a wide variety of departments and held numerous leadership roles, including president and chief operating officer of Brunswick Medical Center for many years. Stevens played an integral part in the transition from the original Brunswick Community Hospital to its new, state-of-the-art facility in 2011. Stevens is accountable for the region along with having other systemwide responsibilities across Novant Health.