HAP Achievement Awards: Canonsburg Hospital

May 30, 2025

HAP's annual Achievement Awards honor hospitals and health systems for their innovation, creativity, and commitment to patient care. The Achievement Awards showcase and share member hospitals’ and health systems’ successful programs and best practices.

Canonsburg Hospital received the In Safe Hands Award for reducing patient harm through enhanced collaboration and documentation practices.

Here’s what you need to know:

• The challenge:  In 2022, the hospital experienced a sharp rise in hospital-acquired pressure injuries, marking its highest rate to date and prompting an urgent call for intervention.
• Addressing the issue:  A review of practices uncovered inconsistent training, improper use of risk assessments, and gaps in prevention protocol adherence.
• Taking action:  A sustained, multidisciplinary initiative combined unit-specific action plans, smart documentation tools, and weekly collaborative reviews to strengthen pressure injury prevention through improved communication, accountability, and clinical consistency.
• Results:  Hospital-acquired pressure injuries dropped by 41 percent, and documentation of admission-time wounds increased by over 150 percent across all units—highlighting meaningful gains in patient safety, clinical precision, and team accountability.
• Advancing Care:  In their submission, the team captured the broader impact of their work, writing: “The success of this initiative underscores the potential for significant gains in patient safety through focused, collaborative efforts.”

Congratulations to Canonsburg Hospital for its outstanding efforts to improve patient safety. Learn more about the project online.

Questions about the HAP Achievement Awards may be directed to HAP Member Services at (717) 561-5359.