Quality & Safety Measures
At St. Bernards Medical Center, we want to ensure you receive the best possible care. That’s why our team measures our performance on many quality and safety measures and continually works to improve. We share the data publicly to help you feel confident choosing our hospital for all your family’s healthcare needs.
Quality of Care Indicators
Learn about the areas of performance we track, and view our quality report to see how we’re doing on each metric.
You can also view quality and safety data using:
Early Management Bundle, Severe Sepsis/Septic Shock
This measure focuses on adults with a diagnosis of severe sepsis or septic shock—a life-threatening emergency in which the body overreacts to an infection. Hospitals must take several steps to respond. The measure calculates the percentage of patients with severe sepsis or septic shock for whom all steps are completed.
Higher percentages are better.
Elective Deliveries
This measure reflects the percentage of patients who had an early induction or C-section before 39 weeks gestation without a medical reason. Infants born before 39 weeks are more likely to have breathing disorders and other health problems than babies who stay in the womb longer.
Lower percentages of early elective deliveries are better.
Healthcare Worker Influenza Immunization
This measure shows the percentage of staff present at the hospital who received a flu vaccine. Employees who get the vaccine are less likely to develop the flu and pass the infection on to patients.
Higher percentages are better.
Emergency Department (ED): Arrival to Departure Time
This measure shows the average time patients spent in the ED. It doesn't include these patients:
- People who left without the approval of a licensed provider
- People whose medical record doesn’t list where they went after leaving the ED
Lower numbers are better.
ED: Head CT/MRI Scan Results within 45 Minutes for Stroke Patients
This measure shows the percentage of patients with stroke symptoms who got brain scan results within 45 minutes of arrival at the ED. Doctors need the imaging test results to determine the type and severity of the stroke before giving treatment.
Higher percentages are better.
Multiple Antipsychotic Meds with Appropriate Justification
This measure shows the percentage of psychiatric inpatients discharged with two or more antipsychotic medications whose prescriptions were clinically appropriate. Studies show the use of multiple antipsychotic medications at the same time can lead to side effects for patients.
Higher percentages are better.
Tobacco Use Treatment Provided or Offered
This measure shows tobacco users who received or refused counseling to quit and received or refused FDA-approved cessation medications during the hospital stay. This is important because smoking can cause multiple cancers, heart disease, stroke, pregnancy complications, breathing problems and many other diseases.
Higher percentages are better.
Alcohol Use Brief Intervention Provided or Offered
This measure shows the percentage of patients who screened positive for unhealthy alcohol use who received or refused a brief intervention during the hospital stay. A brief intervention is a short discussion about a patient’s drinking patterns, recommended limits and ways to drink less.
Higher percentages are better.
Screening for Metabolic Disorders
This measure shows the percentage of patients discharged on one or more antipsychotic medications who had body mass index, blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol level screenings in the past year. This is important because people on antipsychotic medications are more likely to have metabolic syndrome, which raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke.
Higher percentages are better.
Chest Pain & Heart Attack: Fibrinolytic within 30 Minutes
This measure shows the percentage of outpatients with chest pain or possible heart attack who got drugs to break up blood clots within 30 minutes of arrival at the hospital. These drugs restore the flow of blood and oxygen to the heart.
Higher percentages are better.
Recommendation for Follow-Up Screening Colonoscopy
This measure shows the percentage of patients ages 50 to 75 years with normal colonoscopy results who were told to get another colonoscopy (colon cancer screening) in 10 years.
Higher percentages are better.
Safety Measures
We track the mortality (death) rate for patients in the first 30 days after:
- Entering the hospital for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, stroke or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Having coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery
The mortality rate includes deaths that happened for any reason, including those that occurred in the hospital and after discharge.
Hospital Readmissions
Patients who receive high-quality care are less likely to return to the hospital after going home. We measure the rate of unplanned readmissions within 30 days of discharge. We keep rates as low as possible by helping prevent complications, providing clear discharge instructions and helping patients transition smoothly to their next destination.
Patient Satisfaction
After a hospital stay, patients receive a survey about their experience. This survey is called the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS). View the patient satisfaction report to see the survey results, which St. Bernards Medical Center uses to determine how to make our care even better.
