Ranked Among Top 7 Children’s Hospitals for Safety and Quality
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is one of seven children’s hospitals to make the 2008 Top Hospitals list, based on results of the Leapfrog Hospital Survey.
The survey is the nation’s premier hospital patient safety evaluation tool and provides consumers and health care purchasers with up-to-date assessments of 1,220 participating hospitals’ quality and safety.
The voluntary survey asks hospitals about their performance in four crucial areas, or "leaps":
- Do physicians enter prescriptions and other orders into computers linked to medication error prevention software? And are those systems tested to assure that users are warned about serious prescribing errors?
- How well do hospitals perform seven complex high-risk procedures and care for high-risk deliveries?
- Are hospital intensive care units staffed by qualified specialists?
- Do hospitals have safety practices and policies advocated by the National Quality Forum to reduce harm and errors?
In addition to the four "leaps," the Leapfrog Hospital Survey asked hospitals to report progress on other important patient safety areas, including participating in other public reporting initiatives, adhering to the Leapfrog "Never Events" policy, measuring how efficiently resources are used for certain conditions, and helping patients avoid pressure ulcers and other hospital-related injuries.
“Top hospitals demonstrate an exceptional level of performance and serve as a model for other hospitals," said Leah Binder, CEO of Leapfrog Group. "However, all participating hospitals deserve praise for their willingness to raise the veil on how well they perform."
A study published in the June issue of the Journal on Quality and Patient Safety found that hospitals that perform well on the Leapfrog Hospital Survey have lower mortality and better quality of care than those who either didn't perform as well on the survey or who chose not to complete it.
