Good Shepherd Health Care System (GSHCS) announced today that it is a recipient of the Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award, a designation that recognizes superior performance in hospitals that have prevented the occurrence of serious, potentially avoidable complications for patients during hospital stays.
The distinction places GSHCS among the top 10 percent of all short-term acute care hospitals reporting patient safety data for its excellent performance as evaluated by Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. GSHCS is the only hospital in the region* to receive Healthgrades® 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award™
During the 2013-2015 study period, Healthgrades found that patients treated in hospitals receiving the Patient Safety Excellence Award were, on average:
- 40.0% less likely to experience an accidental puncture or laceration during a procedure, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
- 44.6% less likely to experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
- 54.4% less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired at the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
- 50.2% less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
On average, 134,568 patient safety events could have been avoided if all hospitals, as a group from 2013 to 2015, performed similarly to hospitals performing better than expected on each of 13 patient safety indicators evaluated by Healthgrades.
“Keeping our patient’s safe is a top priority of Good Shepherd Health Care System. Each member of our team is dedicated to ensuring the highest quality care for our patients,” said GSHCS Patient Care Executive Theresa Brock, vice president of nursing. “We are dedicated to providing service excellence and being the health system of choice for the communities we serve by providing quality, safe, compassionate, courteous, and efficient care that you should expect from your community hospital.”
During the study period (2013-2015), Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient hospitals demonstrated excellent performance in safety provided for patients in the Medicare population, as measured by objective outcomes (risk-adjusted patient safety indicator rates) for 13 patient safety indicators defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Noted as a contributing factor to receiving this award is the fact that in 2016 GSHCS began a service excellence journey.
“Our Service Excellence Initiative or SEI as we call it is really an integrated approach to infusing empathy and compassion into everything we do – while maintaining clinical excellence,” said GSHCS President and CEO Dennis Burke. “Each of our employees has gone through a training workshop to emphasize the importance of the patient care experience. We have also put into action many management and front line employee teams to focus on improving patient dissatisfiers and processes to enhance the patient experience. With our ultimate goal of being our communities first choice for health care services.”
“Hospitals who have been recognized as Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipients have minimized patient safety events and also surpassed expectations in preventing safety incidents,” said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades. “We applaud these hospitals for their performance and for their organizational commitment to delivering high-quality care.”
During the study period (2013-2015), Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient hospitals demonstrated excellent performance in safety provided for patients in the Medicare population, as measured by objective outcomes (risk-adjusted patient safety indicator rates) for 13 patient safety indicators defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
For more information about Healthgrades or to download a full copy of the report, or to receive information about hospital and physician quality, go online.
