UNC Health Johnston receives Patient Safety Excellence Award

For the third year in a row, Healthgrades is recognizing UNC Health Johnston as a Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient. This latest distinction places Johnston among the top 5% of all short-term acute care hospitals as evaluated by Healthgrades.

“This award reflects our ongoing commitment to achieve the best possible outcomes for patients,” says Tom Williams, CEO and president of UNC Health Johnston. “Despite the challenges wrought by the pandemic, our teams kept their focus on key safety and quality initiatives to prevent falls, infections and skin breakdowns.”

During the 2019-2021 study period, 164,592 potentially preventable patient safety events occurred among Medicare patients in U.S. hospitals. Healthgrades found that four patient safety indicators accounted for 74% of all patient safety events: hip fracture due to an in-hospital fall, collapsed lung resulting from a procedure/surgery, pressure or bed sores acquired in the hospital, and catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired in-hospital.

Healthgrades’ analysis also revealed that patients treated in hospitals receiving the Healthgrades 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Award were, on average:

• 61.6% less likely to experience an in-hospital fall resulting in hip fracture, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals*
• 52.7% less likely to experience a collapsed lung resulting from a procedure or surgery in or around the chest, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals*
• 66.1% less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals*
• 67.3% less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired in the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals*

“Through our 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Awards, we seek to recognize hospitals that excel in providing top-quality care for their patients while preventing serious injuries during hospital stays,” said Brad Bowman, MD, chief medical officer and head of data science, Healthgrades. “We are proud to name UNC Health Johnston as a 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient and look forward to their continued efforts to make patient safety a top priority.”

To enhance patient safety, Johnston is investing in new hospital beds that signal nurses when a patient at-risk for falls tries to get out of bed. A voice alert tells the patient “please don’t get up” and “your care team has been notified.”

The new beds complement the hospital’s continuous visual monitor attendants, who watch patients on a video screen and alert the care team when assistance is needed. Also, early mobility technicians get patients up and moving as quickly as possible following surgery or illness. And on all floors, nurses follow a process to remove catheters as soon as possible to prevent infection.

As accredited chest pain and primary stroke centers, Johnston has the experience, training and expertise to quickly diagnose and treat heart attack and stroke symptoms.

Consumers can visit healthgrades.com for more information on how Healthgrades measures hospital quality and access the complete methodology here.

*Statistics are calculated from Healthgrades Patient Safety Ratings and Excellence Award methodology, which is based primarily on AHRQ technical specifications (Version 2022.0.1) for MedPAR data years 2019 through 2021 and represent three-year estimates for Medicare patients only.

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