Myrtle Beach –Grand Strand Medical Center, part of Grand Strand Health, has achieved the Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award, a designation that recognizes superior performance in hospitals that have prevented the occurrence of serious, potentially avoidable complications for patients during hospital stays.
“Maintaining a safe environment is a top priority for our team,” said Andrew Schwartz, MD, Chief Medical Officer with Grand Strand Health. “We are honored to accept this award as a testament of the effort our staff invests each day in ensuring that our patients’ health and safety is a top priority.”
The distinction places Grand Strand Medical Center among the top 5% of all short-term acute care hospitals reporting patient safety data for its excellent performance as evaluated by Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals.
During the 2013-2015 study period, Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient hospitals demonstrated excellent performance in safety provided for patients in the Medicare population, as measured by objective outcomes (risk-adjusted patient safety indicator rates) for 13 patient safety indicators defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
On average, 134,568 patient safety events could have been avoided if all hospitals, as a group from 2013 to 2015, performed similarly to hospitals performing better than expected on each of 13 patient safety indicators evaluated by Healthgrades.
“Hospitals who have been recognized as Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipients have minimized patient safety events and also surpassed expectations in preventing safety incidents,” said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades. “We applaud these hospitals for their performance and for their organizational commitment to delivering high-quality care.”
During the study period (2013-2015), Healthgrades found that patients treated in hospitals receiving the Patient Safety Excellence Award were, on average:
- 40.0% less likely to experience an accidental puncture or laceration during a procedure, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals
- 44.6% less likely to experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals
- 54.4% less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired at the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals
- 50.2% less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.[1]