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Study: Hospital quality up, but more improvements needed

Quality Improvement Monitor, March 23, 2007

Hospitals have made dramatic gains in the quality of care they provide their patients, but there's plenty of room for improvement, especially with time-outs, according to a new report from The Joint Commission.

The report, titled Improving America's Hospitals: A Report on Quality and Safety details the performance of accredited hospitals against standardized national performance measures and the Joint Commission's National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) from 2002-2005. It found significant improvements in treatments for patients with heart attacks, heart failure, or pneumonia during that period.

However, the report also discovered that hospital compliance was lowest for NPSG requirements that a "time out" be taken by the surgical team before surgery to confirm patient identity and correct procedure.

Dennis S. O'Leary, MD, president of The Joint Commission, spoke of his disappointment in the low compliance with the Universal Protocol during a press conference this week. "This is an area of significant frustration," he said.

For more information, click here http://www.jointcommission.org/NewsRoom/NewsReleases/jc_annual_report_031907.htm

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