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 the Leapfrog Group released Wednesday.
Data from before the COVID-19 pandemic show promising improvements in hospital infection rates. Central line-associated bloodstream infections have decreased by 43%, MRSA infections by 22% and Clostridioides difficile infections by 8% since 2012, when the Leapfrog Group started categorizing hospitals by measures. This year and 2019. In the same years, the number of falls and injuries decreased by 27.1% and the incident of unintentional foreign body leaving the patient’s body 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 US hospitals showed annual hospital adverse event rates for adult patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, pneumonia, and procedures Major surgery in the period 2010-2019 has decreased significantly in terms of statistics.
Leapfrog Group reports that average hospital performance has improved in critical care physicians, safety leadership, and safety measurement, feedback and Intervention since 5 years. 2012 to 2022.
Binder says the adoption of computerized supplier order entry, which is used to reduce common medication errors, has increased seven-fold between 2012 and 2022. 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% “A” hospitals, respectively. North Dakota, Vermont, and the District of Columbia had the worst outcomes on this measure, with no hospitals receiving an “A”.
Compared to fall 2021, 22.1% of hospitals received a lower safety score, 18.7% had an increase, and 59.2% had no change.
The challenges posed by the pandemic, such as staffing shortages and the number of patients requiring central lines, said Akin Demehin, senior director of quality policy and patient safety at Hospitals USA, said: centers and catheters, has greatly affected the ability of hospitals to maintain quality improvement. Combination. In those elevated cases, he said, hospitals may not be able to prevent infection effectively.
“Hospitals are really doubling down and refocusing their efforts to make sure their care is as safe, high quality and equitable as possible,” Demehin said.
Often, the states with the most efficient hospitals benefit from health system leaders and government officials who prioritize safety and quality, Binder said. In New Jersey, which consistently ranks in the top 10, legislators pay close attention to hospital safety ratings and scrutinize patient safety, while health systems promote safety ratings. theirs to their community, she said. Neighboring New York, ranked 39th, lacks those traits, she said.
Demehin said hospitals will continue to investigate the causes of the changing infection rates and find ways to maintain the successes and address the shortfalls. Some current strategies to minimize side effects, he said, include using antibiotic management programs and using electronic health records to analyze safety trends.
