Alaska Native Medical Center 2021 highlights

High-quality, culturally relevant care

The Alaska Native Medical Center operates a state-of-the-art, 173-bed hospital that provides specialty medical services to Alaska Native and American Indian people. ANMC is Alaska’s first Level II Trauma Center, a Level II Pediatric Trauma Center, and shared the American Hospital Association’s “Carolyn Boone Lewis Living the Vision” Award with the Alaska Tribal Health System.

In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact health care operations and our staff continued to work collaboratively and tirelessly to provide high-quality care and services to our people.

In order to continue providing lifesaving care for our unrelenting surge of COVID-19 patients, our nurses, providers and health care support staff worked long hours, picked up extra shifts, skipped their days off and sacrificed time off with their families.

ANMC’s health care providers are committed to the well-being of our people and have been unwavering in their dedication to caring for our patients and their families.

Highest-quality health services – Highlights from 2021

ANMC is home to one of America’s most unique health care environments – a place where traditional and cultural values meet state-of-the art technology and care. ANTHC’s health care providers strive to provide patients with exceptional quality care and continuously work to improve their hospital experience.

In 2021, we continued to demonstrate the quality of our services with an award recognition from the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association (ASHNHA):

ASHNHA recognizes the ANMC Laboratory with the Patient Safety “Beacon” Award

The Beacon Award from the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association (ASHNHA) celebrates above-and-beyond safety-related performance. This year, the awards review committee and ASHNHA staff selected the ANMC Laboratory for this award, which recognizes the Laboratory team’s commitment, effort, and collaboration to support our Tribal members’ health and welfare through rapid COVID-19 vaccine distribution and a robust COVID-19 testing capacity for the entire state.

Due to the pandemic, COVID-19 testing quickly became the ANMC Laboratory’s primary focus. The Laboratory team has continued to demonstrate a high level of teamwork and collaboration while working around the clock with campus collection sites, ANMC hospital, the Emergency Department, and Tribal partners to receive and process many hundreds of COVID-19 samples daily. As of Sept. 1, 2021, ANMC Laboratory staff processed and resulted nearly 350,000 COVID-19 tests, helping make Alaska one of the most tested states in the country.

Read original story from September 2021 here: ANMC Laboratory wins 2021 ASHNHA Patient Safety Beacon Award

New operating room technology helps improve outcomes and reduce surgery recovery time

ANMC added new technology that allows additional capabilities in our operating room, allowing for minimally invasive surgical procedures for our patients. The da Vinci XI Surgical System, also referred to as a surgical robot, assists surgeons with laparoscopic surgery, allowing them to do more detailed, complex surgeries.

When a patient has a minimally invasive surgical procedure, it often means less pain and pain medications, shorter recovery times, reduced hospital stays, and getting back to their daily lives much quicker than if they had a traditional open surgery.

The robot is attached to laparoscopic instruments and allows for improved visualization, additional range of motion and wrist movements. The small dissecting instruments allow surgeons to do very fine dissections and gives surgeons visibility that they do not have without the robot. The increased visualization is possible due to a high-definition camera, which increases their ability to identify certain kinds of tissues and cancers and to have full visualization of areas that they traditionally had to operate blindly on, such as deep inside a patient’s pelvis or chest.

There are many benefits of using a surgical robot, but the most important one for ANMC patients is being able to provide the best care and the procedure with the least amount of side effects as possible.

Read original story from May 2021 here: ANMC purchases da Vinci XI Surgical System, adding critical technology to the OR

Improving care for pregnant Alaskans with high blood pressure

ANMC partnered with the Alaska Perinatal Quality Collaborative (AKPQC) to implement best practices to improve the outcomes for pregnant Alaskans with high blood pressure. In 2021, the AKPQC reported the collaborative has helped to lead a 28% reduction in severe complications associated with high blood pressure during pregnancy.

High blood pressure during pregnancy is on the rise in Alaska, with high blood pressure disorders contributing to two out of the six pregnancy-related deaths in Alaska during 2012-16.

ANMC was one of six Alaska hospitals to address the critical need for pregnant Alaskans through a collaborative quality improvement effort to reduce hypertension-related severe maternal morbidity. To make these strategic improvements, ANMC established additional training for providers and nursing staff as well as established systems for supporting patients, families and staff following a severe maternal event.

Due to the significant efforts by our obstetric leadership and staff in this project, ANMC met or exceeded several targets for quality care, earning “Gold Recognition” from the State of Alaska, the highest level of achievement. With considerable support and work from the inpatient obstetrics nursing team and a continued focus in these areas, ANMC will continue to lead the way to better health and wellness for our patients and their families.