The annual release of U.S. News & World Report ratings of the nation's best hospitals is good for hospitals like the Cleveland Clinic, which was rated as one of the top-ranked hospitals (No. 4), and as the nation's No. 1 heart hospital for the 14th straight year. But the publication also stirs debate about whether the popular rankings are good for consumers. The rankings of 170 hospitals carry a lot of weight, but they favor large academic centers and lean heavily on reputation instead of the best available quality measures, some say.
U.S. News & World Report had compiled its annual list of "America's Best Hospitals." For the rankings, U.S. News analyzed data on 5,453 medical centers. Only 170 hospitals were ranked in one or more specialties and, of those, just 19 were of Honor Roll caliber. To be in this group, a hospital had to achieve high scores in six or more specialties.
A Corpus Christi, TX, hospital said that a mixing error that led to a blood thinner overdose in as many as 17 infants was caused by its pharmacy. Two of the babies have died. The error was unrelated to product labeling or packaging of pediatric heparin, according to a statement by the chief medical officer of Christus Spohn Health System. The mixing error is believed to have occurred July 3, and that heparin batch was first administered in the neonatal intensive care unit July 4.
Bullying doctors can make nurses afraid to question their performance and result in medical errors, according to a safety alert issued by The Joint Commission. Outbursts and condescending language also threaten patient safety and increase the cost of care, according to the alert. Hospitals will be required by 2009 to have codes of conduct and processes for dealing with inappropriate behavior by staff, and hospitals without such systems risk losing their accreditation, said Joint Commission representatives.
Corpus Christi, TX-based Christus Spohn Hospital South is investigating how up to 17 babies in a neonatal intensive care unit received overdoses of the blood thinner heparin. One of the babies died, and nursing staff at the hospital discovered the problem two days after the medication is believed to have been first administered. Heparin came into the public spotlight in 2007 when newborn twins of actor Dennis Quaid nearly died after receiving an overdose at a Los Angeles hospital.
A grant from Lake County, OH, will let Lake Hospital System offer mental health services in the emergency departments at Lake East and Lake West hospitals. The $630,000 grant intends to shorten or eliminate the need to hospitalize people who are experiencing a psychiatric crisis.