King’s Daughters Medical Center announced Tuesday that it has achieved two distinctions of quality excellence from Healthgrades – the Healthgrades 2015 Patient Safety Excellence Award™ and the Healthgrades 2015 Outstanding Patient Experience Award™. Healthgrades is the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals.

Only 93 out of the 3,558 hospitals evaluated for both patient safety and experience excellence had the superior performance to be recipients of both achievements. This places King’s Daughters Medical Center among the top 2 percent of all hospitals in the nation evaluated for excellent performance in safeguarding patients from serious, potentially preventable complications during their hospital stays as well as providing a positive experience for patients during their hospital stays.

Patient Safety 

On average, 133,896 patient safety events could have been avoided if all hospitals, as a group from 2011 to 2013, performed similarly to hospitals performing better than expected on each of 13 Patient Safety Indicators evaluated by Healthgrades.

In addition, during this study period, patients treated in hospitals receiving Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award were, on average:

• 43.9 percent less likely to experience an accidental puncture or laceration during a procedure, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.

• 53.6 percent less likely to experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.

• 47.4 percent less likely to experience catheter-related blood stream infections, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.

• 43.8 percent less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.

KDMC CEO Alvin Hoover said, “It is very gratifying to know that our commitment to quality care and safety has been recognized over and again by numerous outside rating agencies. We truly believe that healing is more than dressing a wound or providing the right medicine at the right time. Healing for us is, and has always been, about being welcomed with a smile; seeing you as a person not just a patient; and treating everyone — and I mean everyone —as God’s special creation that deserves our very best and our prayers.”

During the study period (2011-2013), Healthgrades 2015 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient hospitals performed with excellence in providing safety for patients in the Medicare population, as measured by objective outcomes (risk-adjusted patient safety indicator rates) for 13 patient safety indicators defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Patient Experience 

In addition to being recognized as one of Healthgrades 2015 Patient Safety Excellence Award, King’s Daughters Medical Center also out-performed peer hospitals in patient experience.

Healthgrades evaluated performance by applying a scoring methodology to 10 patient experience measures, using data collected from a 27-question survey of the hospital’s own patients. The survey questions focus on patients’ perspectives of their care in the hospital. Question topics range from cleanliness and noise levels in patient rooms to factors such as pain management and responsiveness to patients’ needs. The measures also include whether a patient would recommend the hospital to friends or family.

“We commend all recipients for their achievements and for demonstrating an organization-wide commitment to delivering high-quality care, protecting patients from potentially preventable complications and ensuring a safe and positive experience for patients,” said Evan Marks, Chief Strategy Officer, Healthgrades.

For more information about Healthgrades or to download a full copy of the report or to receive information about hospital and physician quality, visit: www.Healthgrades.com/quality today.

About King’s Daughters Medical Center – Brookhaven

Our mission is to provide quality health and wellness in a Christian environment. We work hard every day to accomplish our mission for the patients we serve. KDMC is a non-profit hospital, which means our dollars are reinvested in our community. We reinvest by continuing to grow to meet your health care needs: upgrading facilities, staying on top of technology by purchasing innovative equipment, and providing quality medical professionals.