How safe are Wisconsin hospitals?
St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton was given a B in the study. This hospital scored mostly green (above average) in all categories but patient falls, urinary tract infections and death from complications after surgery.Klein, Tess
St. Agnes Hospital in Fond du Lac made it up there with Froedtert, scoring an overall A letter grade. This hospital received perfect scores in multiple practices including safe insertion and removal of tubes in major veins to avoid air bubbles in the bloodstream, careful attention to make sure foreign objects aren’t left inside patient’s bodies during surgery and regular cleaning of urinary catheters to prevent infections. Things that could be improved are more careful watching for symptoms of breathing issues after surgery and better doctor-patient communication.Klein, Tess
HSHS St. Vincent Hospital of Green Bay received a C letter grade due to multiple complications during surgery including surgical wounds splitting open, patient deaths after operations and the formation of dangerous blood clots. However, this hospital avoids many common infections that patients can acquire during hospital stays and has a very high score in all communication categories.Klein, Tess
Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee Klein, Tess
Beaver Dam Community Hospitals, Inc. received straight A’s in the study, meaning that the overall score in each category was above average. The hospital provided information for all categories but four and scored below average in only two: effective leadership to prevent errors and specially trained intensive care unit doctors. Things this hospital does especially well at are meeting the number of qualified nurses, tracking past errors to prevent risks in the future and making sure dangerous objects are not left inside patient’s bodies during surgery. Klein, Tess
Holy Family Memorial Medical Center in Manitowoc received a B letter grade from Leapfrog. Information from many of the study’s categories are listed as unavailable, but for the categories that do have information, the hospital does a good job of doctor-patient and nurse-patient communication and has the highest score for hand washing of all other hospitals. Klein, Tess
Because of its careful practices during and after surgeries, high response rate and willingness to take time with patients to make sure they fully understand information about their recovery and medications, Mercy Health System Corporation in Janesville received an overall A. However, the hospital did decline to report information in multiple categories such as hand washing, sufficient number of qualified nurses and specially trained Intensive Care Unit (ICU) doctors. Klein, Tess
Klein, Tess
Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital in Milwaukee was given a C letter grade in the study. Many hospitals follow a similar pattern of declining to report data in enough qualified nurses, effective leadership and hand washing categories, and St. Mary’s is no exception to this. Other than that, St. Mary’s scored very highly in the problem with surgery category, meaning that overall they are following all of the correct procedures and safety guidelines during surgeries. Klein, Tess
Leapfrog awarded Fort Healthcare in Fort Atkinson with an A letter grade. This is because the hospital scores above average in 14 out of 27 categories, some of which the information was not available. Of those 14, the hospital scores highly in avoiding problems with surgery such as dangerous object left in patient’s body, collapsed lungs, serious breathing problems and dangerous blood clots. On the other hand, this hospital could work on better sanitation practices to avoid the spread of the Clostridium difficile bacterium which causes diarrhea, fever, loss of appetite and abdominal pain. Klein, Tess
ProHealth Waukesha Memorial Hospital got an A from the Leapfrog study. This hospital scored below average in only three areas including serious breathing problems and accidental cuts and tears after surgery, and failure to use a computer system to order medications. ProHealth avoids the spread of all possible infections to patients during their hospital stay, meaning that they are keeping themselves and the equipment as clean and sanitary as possible. Klein, Tess