Exceeding Patient Satisfaction in 2007

If you’ve ever been a patient at St. Mary’s Hospital, you may have received a survey asking you about your experience at our facility. Sent by Press Ganey, the healthcare industry’s leading independent vendor of satisfaction measurement, the results of these surveys show us what we’re doing well and where we need to improve. On a quarterly basis, we publish these results within our hospital so that employees can celebrate successes and take note of challenging areas.

Your opinion matters very much to us and helps us to shape the way we provide service to our patients and visitors. The next time you or a loved one receive a survey from our facility, we encourage you to take a moment to share your experience with us.

Striving to Improve Patient Care

The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits nearly 15,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the United States. As an independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is our nation’s predominant accrediting body in healthcare. Joint Commission accreditation is recognized throughout the country as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to meeting research-based performance standards. To earn and maintain accreditation, an organization must undergo a comprehensive, on-site survey by a team at least every three years.

The Joint Commission provides healthcare facilities across the U.S. with National Standards for Best Practices. These are evaluated using performance measures that can be applied across accredited healthcare organizations. On a quarterly basis, results are released to the public and posted on The Joint Commission’s website and other internet resources.

Below are the four categories on which hospitals are evaluated. Each description contains both the St. Mary's Hospital ranking within the state of Maryland and within the nation. Currently, there are 45 Maryland healthcare facilities with publicly reported data. St. Mary's Hospital is proud to share its standings with the community! Visit the following links to view reports on our hospital's standings.

Delmarva Foundation

Delmarva Foundation (DF) is a national, not-for-profit organization with a mission to improve health in the communities they serve. They fulfill this mission by providing leadership services and consultative resources that ensure all Americans receive care that is safe, effective, efficient, equitable, timely, and patient-centered. St. Mary's Hospital is a part of the 250 professionals working in teams to achieve these strategic goals:

• Interventions Team: Transforming healthcare
• Data Integrity Group/Health Integrity, LLC: Best in class analysis. Using data analysis to make healthcare more efficient and effective
• Performance Assessment and Validation: Influencing stakeholders to improve healthcare quality

Heart Attack Care:A heart attack is the death of heart muscle from the sudden blockage of a coronary artery by a blood clot. This category assesses the overall quality of care provided to heart attack patients. It measures the percentage of patients who received particular, life-saving medications within hours of their arrival. In addition, this category takes into account how quickly heart attack patients were evaluated and given treatment.
St. Mary's Hospital Ranking:
State of Maryland - #4
Nationwide – within top 25%

Heart Failure Care: Heart failure, also called congestive heart failure, is a life-threatening condition in which the heart does not pump enough blood to the rest of the body. This category assesses the overall quality of care provided to patients who are diagnosed with heart failure. Healthcare facilities are evaluated for the timeliness of treatment, medication, counseling and discharge instructions given to patients.
St. Mary's Hospital Ranking:
State of Maryland - #13
Nationwide – within top 25%

Pneumonia: A serious infection and inflammation of the lungs, pneumonia can strike individuals of every age. Because of its fast moving symptoms, rapid treatment with the proper antibiotics is important to a successful recovery. The pneumonia category of improvement goals from evidence based measures evaluates the overall quality of care provided to pneumonia patients.

St. Mary's Hospital Ranking:
State of Maryland - #16
Nationwide – within top 50%

Surgical Infection Prevention Care: Postoperative infection is a major cause of patient injury, death and increases healthcare costs. This category assesses the overall use of indicated antibiotics for surgical infection prevention. Our facility is ranked #2 in the state of Maryland for Surgical Infection Prevention Care!
St. Mary's Hospital Ranking:
State of Maryland - #2
Nationwide – within top 25%

Participating to Increase Patient Safety
The 5 Million Lives Campaign is an initiative sponsored by the Institute for Health for Healthcare Improvement to protect patients from five million incidents of medical harm over the next two years (December 2006 – December 2008). St. Mary’s Hospital is a proud participant in the program and is listed as Fully Committed Hospital Facility.