Most of the time, I find ratings silly. However, one that I like to pay attention to is the Leapfrog Group’s semi-annual survey on hospital safety. In order to get an A rating from Leapfrog, hospitals are reviewed in 27 areas, including physician staffing in intensive care units, proper hygienic methods (think hand washing and equipment sterilization), number of nurses on duty, and rate of occurrence of staph infections like MRSA.
Just how many Georgia hospitals got an A rating for Spring 2018?
Fifteen – and that’s up from last fall. That works out to roughly 1 in 5, putting Georgia at 35th out of all states for the safest hospitals. I suppose we should be thankful that no hospital received an F?
The rankings are online. You can also see the full scores, which will show you the areas in which each hospital excelled and where they fell short.
Medical errors are now the third leading cause of death in the United States, killing somewhere between 250,000-440,000 annually, according to studies by Johns Hopkins University and an advocacy group called Patient Safety America.
The hope from Leapfrog is that by making this data public, hospitals will be more likely to follow prescribed protocols that help keep patients from getting sicker once admitted – at least due to preventable reasons. They’ve been putting out their survey twice a year since 2012.