Why are safety efforts short?
“This is the first round of hospital safety levels where we have data on hospital performance during the peak of the pandemic,” said Leah Binder, President and CEO of Leapfrog Group. . “We could have hoped that hospitals would become experts at preventing infection by responding to infectious disease outbreaks like pandemics. But the opposite is the case.”
Instead, focus on public health emergencies and pandemic-related safety and personnel issues that could distract system leaders from implementing precautions are needed to prevent other types of hospital-acquired infections, says Binder.
Dealing with more severe patients who require longer mechanical ventilation and moving clinical staff to areas of care, said Akin Demehin, senior director of quality and patient safety at the American Hospital Association. care they are unfamiliar with has led to more potential infection risks that hospitals have to deal with. .
“Hospitals must constantly balance the rise and fall of COVID-19 patients while remaining open to others in need of care,” Demehin said. “The significant gains that hospitals have made in terms of patient safety and infection reduction before the pandemic are harder to maintain.”
How are hospitals and states scared?
The majority of states have seen significant increases in infection rates in the central line, with West Virginia and New Mexico having the highest increases of more than 180%.
On average, hospitals across the country scored lower at the end of 2021 and 2022 than they did in 2019 on performance measures such as nurse-physician communication, staff responsiveness, etc. as well as medical education and discharge information.
The drop was a departure from pre-pandemic data showing improvement across the industry.
Among hospitals, 29% got an “A”, 26% “B”, 39% “C”, 6% “D” and less than 1% “F.” Nearly 60% of hospitals remained in the same grade from the fall 2022 report.
New Jersey, Idaho, and Utah are the states with the highest percentages of “A” hospitals, with about 50% scoring the highest. Delaware, North Dakota and Washington, DC, had the worst outcomes on this measure, with no hospital receiving an “A”.
Where improvements have been made
While there were significant flaws in quality of care over the past year, one bright spot was the safety improvements made by hospitals that scored worse, says Binder.
Connecticut went from 31st among the states in terms of “A” scores to fifth. South Carolina, ranked 21st, jumped to seventh.
Some hospitals in the safety net are also profitable. Located in Chicago, St. Bernard received his first “A” just two years after receiving his “F”.
Over the past few months, the Leapfrog Group has also seen a drop in infection rates, meaning further levels of safety will be significantly improved, she said. From spring 2021 to spring 2023, the average rate of Clostridioides difficile infections decreased by 15%.
Linking workforce issues, patient safety
Binder says health systems need to address workforce burnout and patient safety at the same time because the two are closely related.
“Clearly this is something that can affect burnout, workforce shortages and can affect workforce safety,” she said.
Demehin said that as hospitals review their performance on safety measures, many are trying to reinforce infection control and mitigation measures by spending time with staff to better understand about the resources needed and the caring environment to support change.
“Ultimately, improving quality and safety depends on the talented people who provide care in our organizations and keep them engaged and happy,” he said. “Giving them the opportunity to help us identify improvement opportunities is an important part of making progress.”
