(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A hospital safety watchdog group has released its latest report and it indicates Illinois hospitals are improving.
“The safety grade program can be a great motivator to these hospitals, kind of a wake up call,” said Alex Campione, Project Analyst for The Leapfrog Group which looks at hospital-triggered infections, falls, medication errors and other safety issues.
Last spring, Leapfrog ranked Illinois hospitals, as a whole, 30th in the country for safety. Now Illinois hospitals are ranked 23rd.
St. Bernard Hospital in the Englewood neighborhood was one of 47 hospitals that received C’s. The hospital’s Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer Michael Richardson arrived in 2021 when St Bernard had an F grade.
“When I first got here, installed hand hygiene monitoring system so we could detect staff that weren’t cleansing their hands,” Richardson said.
He said St. Bernard was able to see through that system who wasn’t scanning their ID badges following a handwashing and then discussions were had with those staffers to get them to comply or risk losing their jobs.
He also said doctors and other staff also had to improve how well they scanned medication for patients to make sure the right meds were going to the right patients.
Richardson said infections and falls are not the reason for St. Bernard’s C grade. He said patient experience is the cause. The hospital has hired a Patient Experience officer to try to boost the number of former patients who fill out surveys on how they were treated at the hospital.
Alex Campione of Leapfrog points out that just because a hospital received a low grade does not mean the care there is unacceptable.
“You can have good care at a D hospital or an F hospital. There are still good doctors and nurses there at that hospital. It’s just showing that, on average, some concerning events.”
Of Illinois’ 110 hospitals, 32 of them received grades of A in the new report while 18 received B’s, 47 received C’s and 12 got D’s. A hospital in Decatur received the only F.
Thirty-seven percent of Chicago hospitals received A’s which Campione said is higher than the national average.
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