By Rachel Baldauf
UNC Health Southeastern in Lumberton improved its safety grade to a B in the latest report from a nonprofit group that advocates for patient safety at medical centers across the country.
“This grade marks tremendous improvements the health system continues to make, not only in safety and quality, but also in the overall availability of expert medical care not available elsewhere in the region,” said UNC Health Southeastern Board Chair Katie Davis in a press release.
Leapfrog, which releases safety grades for hospitals across the country twice a year, considers several metrics under five categories: infections, problems with surgeries, safety issues, practices to prevent errors, and doctors, nurses and hospital staff. The organization says the grades are meant to provide important safety information about hospitals in an easy-to-understand format.
UNC Health Southeastern earned a C grade from Leapfrog last fall.
Scotland Health Care System in Laurinburg dropped from a B to a C grade, while Columbus Regional Hospital and Cape Fear Valley Medical Center maintained C grades.
The report indicated improvements in patient experience nationwide and a continued drop in infection rates at hospitals since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While today’s results are promising, patient safety remains a crisis-level hazard in health care. Some hospitals are much better than others at protecting patients from harm, and that’s why we make the Hospital Safety Grade available to the public and why we encourage all hospitals to focus more attention on safety,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said in a press release.
Here’s a breakdown of the grades for local hospitals. You can also check out the full list of grades for hospitals in North Carolina and across the country.
Scotland Health Care System
Scotland Health Care System in Laurinburg received a C, one grade lower than it received in November.
The hospital scored below average for infections including MRSA, C. diff and urinary tract infections. It also earned below-average scores for collapsed lungs, communicating with patients about discharge and harmful events after a surgery, procedure or childbirth.
The hospital earned above-average scores for five out of six practices to prevent error, including handwashing, safe medication administration and staff working together to prevent errors. It also scored above average for four out of six metrics relating to doctors, nurses and hospital staff including communication with doctors and nurses and responsiveness of hospital staff.
UNC Health Southeastern
UNC Health Southeastern in Lumberton received a B grade, one grade higher than it received in November.
The hospital earned below-average scores for safety events including dangerous blood clots, patient falls and injuries and harmful events after a procedure, surgery or childbirth. It also scored below average for problems with surgery, including accidental cuts and tears, serious breathing problems and death from serious treatable complications.
The hospital scored above average for four out of six practices to prevent error, including handwashing, safe medication administration and doctors ordering medication through a computer. It also received above-average scores for half of the metrics relating to doctors, nurses and medical staff, including nursing and bedside care for patients and having specially trained doctors care for ICU patients.
Columbus Regional Healthcare System
Columbus Regional Healthcare System in Whiteville received a C, the same grade it has gotten each reporting period since fall 2019.
The hospital received below-average scores for four out of six metrics relating to infections, including MRSA, C. diff and urinary tract infections. It also scored below average for metrics including dangerous bed sores, communicating with patients about discharge and nursing and bedside care for patients.
The hospital scored above average on four out of six practices to prevent error, including handwashing, safe medication administration and doctors ordering medications through a computer.
Cape Fear Valley Medical Center
The Bladen County hospital in Elizabethtown is under the umbrella of Fayetteville-based Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, which received a C grade. That is the same score it has gotten each reporting period since fall 2021.
The hospital scored below average for surgical site infections after colon surgery, MRSA and urinary tract infections. It also received below-average scores for safety problems including dangerous bed sores, collapsed lungs, dangerous blood clots and harmful events after a procedure, surgery or childbirth.
The hospital scored above average for four out of six practices to prevent error, including handwashing, safe medication administration and doctors ordering medications through a computer. It also received above-average scores for four out of seven metrics relating to surgery problems. including dangerous objects left in patients’ bodies, blood leakage and accidental cuts and tears.
