Why are area hospitals rated low in patient safety?
Many thanks for your excellent article "Improving the Culture of Safety" about efforts to ensure patient safety at the University of Michigan Hospitals and St. Joe's. It is especially welcome news to me because I will have hip replacement surgery soon at U of M.
However, I have also read some disturbing reports recently.
For example, while U of M's Orthopedics Department is rated 24th in the whole country in the current U.S, News and World Reports' Hospital Report Card and it scored Better Than Expected, High, or Highest in most categories, it is rated “Lowest” on Patient Safety.
This pattern is repeated in every major specialty at U of M that was evaluated - -heart, cancer, pulmonology, gynecology, etc. -- each received overall good to excellent ratings, but consistently scored “Lowest” on Patient Safety.
Also HealthGrades.com gave U of M Hospitals a “Poor” rating for major complications after total hip replacement surgery.
I and many others would benefit from a follow-up article detailing the specifics of these low scores and what kind of situations, lapses, or errors contributed to them. It would be most helpful to know what steps patients or our advocates could take to protect our safety in the hospital.
Benita Kaimowitz Ann Arbor
Comments
Kara Gavin
Tue, Aug 10, 2010 : 5:36 p.m.
On behalf of the U-M Health System, wed like to offer this brief reply and an invitation. In recent years, many web sites and media outlets have attempted to give the public accurate ratings and rankings of the quality and safety of hospital care. While we at U-M agree that the American people deserve this kind of transparent rating of medical care and assessment of patient safety, the science behind such ratings is still evolving. Thats why its possible for a hospital to do well in one ranking, and poorly in another. National rankings currently are based on data from hospital billing records thats readily available, but that leaves out a lot of the story. Hospitals like U-M, which take care of many patients who have multiple medical problems at once, or who need highly advanced care, find themselves on the low end of such rating systems. Simply put, the billing data just isnt enough to base hospital ratings on. At U-M, we have a goal of being the safest hospital in America and a dedication to tracking and reporting that gives us real, meaningful data. We share those data with our doctors and clinic directors routinely, so they can look for ways to improve the care they provide. Because we pay such close attention to these data, we know that we have lowered our post-surgery infection rates and the rate of dangerous blood clots that can affect surgery patients. We are working toward a goal of providing this information with patients and others directly, through our web site. We also hope that over time, the tools we use can come into use nationwide, and be used to create more meaningful hospital rankings based on trustworthy information. In the meantime, we hope Ms.Kaimowitz, and all our patients, will ask their U-M doctor to share meaningful patient-safety information with them before deciding to have a major operation at our hospital or embarking on a journey of medical care with us. No matter where youre considering receiving your care, you have a right to this level of detail before trusting your health to any particular physician or hospital Darrell (Skip) Campbell, Jr., M.D. Chief Medical Officer, U-M Hospitals & Health Centers Vinita Bahl, DMD, Director, Clinical Information and Decision Support Services U-M Hospitals & Health Centers (submitted by Kara Gavin, Director of Public Relations)
amazonwarrior
Mon, Aug 9, 2010 : 9:18 a.m.
Benita - First off, good luck with your hip replacement surgery. Second, don't believe everything you read. :) My mother has had 8 major, and I mean MAJOR (average 8 hours) surgeries in the past 6 years, 2 required being in intensive care, at U of M. She had NO complications, NO infections, the patients rooms were well cared for, the staff IS overworked, but they took very good care of my mother, and I couldn't ask for more. St. Joseph's...I'll defend that hospital to the death. I have had 4 surgeries there in 7 years, NO infections, NO complications, the staff/nurses were wonderful and I feel very fortunate to live in this area to have access to TWO great medical facilities. Again, good luck with your surgery and I wish you a speedy recovery!!
Peacemaker
Mon, Aug 9, 2010 : 9:10 a.m.
Absolutely! Smoke out the reasons and force those responsible to take remedial action -- those hospital administrators get big salaries, so make them produce top results. We live here, and it is our health. But perhaps the limited resources of i-newspapers prevents robust investigative reporting of the sort that helped police such defects in public health in the 20th Century.