All patients want a hospital with cutting-edge technology, capable intensive care staff, experience in high-risk treatments and a culture of innovation.
Duke University Medical Center patients will be happy to hear that DUMC was honored by the Leapfrog Group for Patient Safety as one of the 50 safest hospitals in America, based on those four criteria.
Mary Ann Fuchs, clinical associate and chief operating officer of hospital administration, said the rating is an appropriate honor for DUMC.
"Getting honored by Leapfrog just shows our organization is dedicated to assuring quality and providing high standards of care," Fuchs said.
According to the group's website, the Leapfrog Group rates hospitals that respond to a voluntary survey.
The final safety ranking is based on four criteria: computerized physician order entry, or CPOE, which evaluates the use of computers for communication; the experience of intensive care staff; the hospital's competency with high-risk procedures; and compliance with 27 specific safety initiatives.
Michael Russell, the associate chief information officer for DUMC and an associate professor of medicine, said the medical center's advanced CPOE system was a major reason for the rating.
In the past, doctors wrote out orders on pieces of paper, which could cause confusion when they were routed to other departments and the handwriting or wording was unclear.
"This process [of handwritten orders] is just wrought with error," Russell said, adding that the CPOE system standardizes the process.
"[CPOE] is something that Leapfrog has put forward as a goal for hospitals, and that Duke has decided in part for its own purposes to pursue," Russell said. "The Leapfrog folks have been very impressed."
A 2003 organ transplant mix-up at DUMC caused the death of a patient, and the following year hydraulic fluid was accidentally used in place of detergent to clean surgical instruments. After these mix-ups, DUMC instituted a number of reforms to prevent future errors.
Kat Song, director of communications for The Leapfrog Group, wrote in an e-mail that these events did not affect the hospital's rating, because none of the survey questions pertained to specific events.
Song added that DUMC performed quite well on all of the survey measures.
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