The hospital sector has made significant progress in reducing side effects and fostering a culture of safety over the past decade, according to a report by Leapfrog Group released Wednesday.
Data from before the COVID-19 pandemic show promising improvements in hospital infection rates. Central line-associated bloodstream infections are down 43%, MRSA cases are down 22%, and Clostridioides difficile infections are down 8% since 2012, when the Leapfrog Group started categorizing hospitals by these measures. and 2019.
During the same years, falls and injuries decreased by 27.1%, and incidents of accidental objects left in the body of patients after surgery decreased by 28.9%.
Leapfrog Group President and CEO Leah Binder said: “We were surprised to see that there had been significant improvements in safety in the places we measured. “We are cautiously optimistic that, over the past decade, there has been traction in improving patient safety.”
However, strains of COVID-19 may have thwarted these successes. “My biggest concern is what happened during the pandemic, when we certainly see some reversal in these trends,” she said.
Binder says transparency is one of the most important factors for achieving safety improvements. For example, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid publicly report on hospital safety practices, which gives health systems a strong incentive to improve their operations, she said.
Leapfrog Group’s findings are consistent with other studies. A 2022 JAMA study of 3,156 U.S. hospitals showed annual hospital adverse event rates for adult patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, pneumonia, and procedures Major surgery between 2010 and 2019 decreased statistically significantly.
Leapfrog Group reports that average hospital performance has improved in intensive care physicians, safety leadership, and safety measurement, feedback and Intervention since 5 years. 2012 to 2022.
The adoption of computerized supplier order entry, which is used to reduce common medication errors, increased seven-fold between 2012 and 2022, says Binder. State for providers to implement electronic medical records is the most likely reason hospitals have been able to make that progress, Binder said.
In a new report by Leapfrog Group, 30% of hospitals got an “A”, 28% “B”, 36% “C”, 6% “D” and 1% “F.” The results are similar to those from the organization’s most recent report.
New Hampshire is home to the largest proportion of hospitals, 53.8%, with an “A” in the latest findings. Virginia and Utah followed closely behind, with 52.1% and 51.9% respectively at “A”. North Dakota, Vermont, and the District of Columbia had the worst outcomes on this measure, with no hospitals receiving an “A”.
