All three major hospitals in St. Lucie County received above-average grades from a nonprofit organization that reviews hospital data and passes such judgments.
Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital improved by a letter grade, now a “B”; while HCA’s St. Lucie Medical Center retained its “A” grade. Lawnwood Regional, also owned by HCA, dropped a grade – slipping from an “A” to a “B.”
While all three hospitals received high marks for leadership and staff cooperation, each were docked for communications issues.
According to the Leapfrog Group, which puts out its Hospital Safety Grade in the spring and fall each year, the hospitals scored poorly on metrics that included the following:
• Communication with nurses
• Communication with doctors
• Communication about discharge
Neither spokesperson representing Cleveland Clinic Tradition nor HCA’s St. Lucie County hospitals directly addressed the critique.
“Cleveland Clinic Martin Health works diligently to provide high-quality care at each of our hospitals,” said Scott Samples via email to the St. Lucie Voice. “We are focused as an organization on patient safety, and continuously measure quality metrics to identify opportunities to enhance our care.”
Tiffany Woods, spokesperson for HCA’s Lawnwood and St. Lucie hospitals, said they “strive to offer high-level care that our community can depend on now and in the future.”
St. Lucie Medical Center has consistently been an A or B grade hospital. The latest ranking was generally positive but did note some additional struggles beyond communication. The hospital scored poorly for serious breathing problems – the best performing hospital’s score was a 1.83 while St. Lucie’s was 12.32. Another concern was the lack of specially trained doctor care for ICU patients, receiving a score of 5 while the best hospitals earned 100.
St. Lucie Medical, though, received perfect marks on a number of metrics, including the lack of MRSA infections, air/gas bubbles in the blood, and the lack of dangerous objects being left in patients’ bodies. The hospital also received a perfect score for hand washing.
Lawnwood Regional Medical Center and Heart Institute scored poorly on other metrics, according to the Leapfrog report.
Such issues included dangerous objects being left in patients’ bodies, blood infections, MRSA infections, and the development of dangerous blood clots, the report states. The hospital, however, scored perfectly on matters including the lack of air or gas bubbles in the blood, patient falls and injuries, and even hand washing.
“We are continually looking for ways to elevate our patients’ experience and our overall quality through our hand hygiene policies, emphasis on positive patient engagement and focus on implementing procedures to enhance patient safety,” Woods said, addressing both St. Lucie Medical and Lawnwood’s scores. “Our commitment to meeting the needs of our patients and visitors, providing an explanation of the personalized level of care they can expect in our facilities is what continues to shape our patient focused culture.”
And while Cleveland Clinic Tradition also nabbed perfect scores for the lack of dangerous objects being left inside patients as well as the lack of air or gas bubbles in the blood, the hospital scored poorly for hand washing – receiving a 48 out of 60. The average performing hospital score was 56.97.
It was also noted in the report that Tradition did not score well for surgical wounds splitting open, patient falls and injuries, MRSA infections, dangerous bed sores, and serious breathing problems.
“Over the years we have put in place numerous continuous improvement programs that have helped us make progress in many areas measured by Leapfrog,” Samples said. “We will continue to focus on those programs to ensure we are providing high-quality care for the communities we serve.”
To review the Leapfrog Group’s hospital safety grades in more depth, visit www.HospitalSafetyGrade.org.