Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton received an A safety rating from The Leapfrog Group. It was the hospital’s second top safety rating of 2013.
By Jacquelyn Pillsbury
For the second time this year, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton was honored with a top safety rating.
Most recently, RWJ Hamilton received an A grade from The Leapfrog Group in its fall 2013 update to the Hospital Safety Score, which rates how well hospitals protect patients from accidents, errors, injuries and infections. The Hospital Safety Score is an A, B, C, D or F letter grade reflecting how safe hospitals are for patients, which helps the public make informed decisions about the safety of their hospital care. In addition to RWJ Hamilton’s top safety score, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital New Brunswick and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway were also recognized with A Hospital Safety Scores.
Overall, New Jersey hospitals rank ninth in the nation, with 40 percent of hospitals in the state—27 in all—receiving A grades from Leapfrog. Locally, RWJ Hamilton, St. Francis Medical Center and University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro received A grades. Capital Health Medical Center-Hopewell received a C, and Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton received a B.
“RWJ Hamilton’s physicians, nurses and staff are committed to providing the communities we serve with safe, high quality patient care,” said Skip Cimino, president and CEO of RWJ Hamilton. “Whether it’s a hospitalwide initiative to curb falls through patient education or following best practices and protocols for stroke care, safety and quality have always been top priorities for RWJ Hamilton.”
RWJ Hamilton’s vice president of quality Joyce Schwarz echoed Cimino’s sentiments.
“We have a system commitment to patient safety and quality,” said Schwarz, who is also a registered nurse. “We work closely with our physicians and staff on a daily basis to keep patients safe. We do our best to build processes to allow our staff to do the right thing.”
At RWJ Hamilton, they continually study what they could do better, Schwarz said, doing analysis, developing a plan and spreading the knowledge throughout the organization.
Using the example of falls, Schwarz says, “Patients are complicated. It is unrealistic to expect that falls will not happen. We have a very high success rate of falls without injury.” Based on 1,000 patients, RWJ Hamilton earned a score of 0.268 in the category of falls and trauma. The average is 0.48, and the worst hospital had a score of 2.005.
Even with such a good score, RWJ Hamilton has recently implemented more safety measures to prevent falls from taking place. One such measure included improving the lighting in patient rooms.
They also added bed alarms for patients who are not supposed to leave their beds unattended. RWJ Hamilton created a new position called Patient Safety Assistants, whose job it is to sit with patients to make sure they do not get out of bed and fall.
Upon being admitted to RWJ Hamilton, every patient is evaluated using the Johns Hopkins Falls Risk Assessment to ensure that the proper safety interventions are put in place.
“Our culture is around safety,” Schwarz said. “This is the sixth hospital I have worked in. My observation is that this hospital has the highest quality of safety of any hospital I have ever worked in. I’m really pleased to be associated with RWJ Hamilton. I look forward to coming to work every day because what I do makes care better and safer for all our patients.”
To see RWJ Hamilton’s scores as they compare locally, visit the Hospital Safety Score website at hospitalsafetyscore.org, which provides information on how the public can protect themselves and loved ones during a hospital stay.
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