Elkhart General’s Shelby Morse Wins Inaugural State Safety Award

Indiana Hospital Association (IHA) announced Shelby Morse, RN, MSN, Executive Director of Quality at Elkhart General Hospital, is the recipient of the first annual Patient Safety Service and Leadership Award given by the Indiana Patient Safety Center. Shelby was presented with the award on June 7 at IHA’s Indiana Patient Safety Summit.

Shelby received the award for exemplary service and dedication to quality and patient safety. As Executive Director, Shelby provides leadership support to patient safety, risk management, infection prevention, case management, documentation improvement and accreditation at Elkhart General as well as various performance and quality improvement efforts.

“Shelby has dedicated her career to making Indiana the safest place to receive health care in the nation,” says Doug Leonard, president of IHA. “It’s an honor to present her with the inaugural Patient Safety Service and Leadership Award. Her commitment to patient safety is a significant contribution to our statewide collective goal of zero patient harms.”

Mark Schmeltz, DO, Chairman of the Patient Safety Steering Committee at Elkhart General commented in her nomination, “Shelby has truly been an advocate for patient safety and employee engagement as evidenced by the level of house wide involvement. Her vast depth of knowledge is exhibited in a way that elevates the skills and motivation of her colleagues and associates, which results in passionate collaborative teamwork. Shelby truly leads by example.”

IHA particularly mentioned work around TeamSTEPPS and LEAN/Performance Improvement efforts as significantly contributing to strategic patient safety and quality improvement initiatives.

This year marks the 10-year anniversary of IHA’s Indiana Patient Safety Center, which supports a network of 11 regional patient safety coalitions throughout the state, working daily with Indiana hospitals and other health care providers to improve the safety and quality of care in Indiana. Shelby and several other Beacon associates are members of the Northcentral Indiana Patient Safety Coalition.

The annual Indiana Patient Safety Summit brings together patient safety and quality leaders to share best practices to improve patient safety and reduce hospital readmissions statewide.