The study collected information from 2006 through 2008 from 19 states where data are publicly available. Among some of the results, HealthGrades found the following:
• One in 208 children hospitalized experienced a potentially preventable patient safety event.
• The 84.7 percent of all events were selected infections due to medical care, accidental puncture or laceration, postoperative sepsis and postoperative respiratory failure.
• Pediatric patients who experienced one or more patient safety events had an approximately 6.15 percent mortality rate.
• Pediatric patients treated at hospitals recognized with a HealthGrades Pediatric Patient Safety Excellence Award had, on average, a 29.48 percent lower risk of experiencing one or more of the eight pediatric patient safety events studied.
• If all hospitals performed at the level of Pediatric Patient Safety Excellence Award hospitals, approximately 6,532 pediatric patient safety events could potentially have been avoided, saving the U.S. healthcare system nearly $335 million from 2006 through 2008.
HealthGrades recognized the top performing pediatric hospitals with HealthGrades 2010 Pediatric Patient Safety Excellence Awards.
Read the HealthGrades news release about the pediatric patient safety study.
Read other coverage about healthcare quality:
– Colorado’s Centura Health Releases Patient Safety and Quality Report
– Nevada Hospitals Plan to Start Reporting Infections
– UCLA Study Shows Intervention Program Improves Heart Failure Care
