ECRMC celebrates national patient safety award
EL CENTRO — Only two years after languishing in the bottom 10 percent of hospitals nationwide in terms of patient safety, El Centro Regional Medical Center has climbed all the way all the way to the opposite end of the ladder, earning a 2018 Patient Safety Excellence Award from Healthgrades.
The award was presented Thursday morning in a ceremony and luncheon with hospital staff and local dignitaries on the ECRMC employee patio.
“The winners here today are the people in purple,” hospital CEO Dr. Adolphe Edward told hospital employees, dressed in purple t-shirts for the occasion. “This is just one step to more attention nationally.”
Healthgrades is a Denver-based company that collects and compiles ratings data on hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers.
Alicia Carroll, Healthgrades’ associate director of quality solutions, did acknowledge there is a marketing agreement tied to the public use of the company’s certifications and awards.
However, she said, all of the roughly 5,000 short-term, acutecare hospitals in the United States are evaluated, regardless of whether they previously have participated in Healthgrades’ programs, and they are held to rigorous standards of care.
In this case, ECRMC was rated in the top 80 percent of hospitals for clinical quality over the period from 2014 through 2016, based on inpatient Medicare data. It also had to render services for members of that patient population to have yielded sufficient patient safety data within seven of eight “core” indicators:
Pressure ulcer rate
Iatrogenic pneumothorax rate
Central venous catheter-related bloodstream infection rate
Postoperative hip fracture rate
Postoperative pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis rate
Postoperative sepsis rate
Postoperative wound dehiscence rate
Accidental puncture or laceration rate
In addition, six other patient safety indicators were reviewed:
Death rate among surgical inpatients with serious treatable complications
Death rate in low-mortality diagnosis-related groups
Postoperative hemorrhage or hematoma rate
Postoperative physiologic and metabolic derangement rate
Postoperative respiratory failure rate
Foreign body left during procedure
A single incidence of that last indicator, which would involve something like a sponge left in a patient after surgery, would have been cause for immediate disqualification for the award.
On the other hand, winning the Patient Safety Award from Heathgrades reflects ECRMC is in the top 10 percent of all short-term, acute-care hospitals reporting patient safety data nationwide, CEO Edward said.
That’s a huge leap from where the hospital was when he arrived in El Centro two years ago. He said the hospital’s ratings were in the bottom 10 percent back then. However, a cultural and procedural change occurred within the organization that moved the needle in the other direction quickly.
In 2014 ECRMC created its first patient safety committee, also called a “hospital acquired condition team.” The team focused on reducing infections related to the use of catheters in the hospital. Their efforts resulted in a 39 percent decrease in those infections within just 12 months.
To enhance the team’s success in reducing patient infections, the hospital collaborated in 2015 with the Hospital Engagement Network and through the implementation of evidence-based practice, the team was able to reduce the infection rate even further.
Twelve additional HAC teams have been added since that time. Edward said these each consist of about 12 or 13 staff members and help ensure proper procedures are being followed to help avoid serious, potentially preventable complications during hospital stays.
“This award is a reflection of the entire team,” Edward said. “Their daily dedication to patient safety and continuous improvement is what makes the difference for our patients.”