Palmetto General Hospital Safety Report

Updated March 2018

Facilities: 360 beds, serves more than 130,000 patients each year, employs 614registered nurses.

Palmetto General Hospital in Hialeah, Florida, is a 360-bed, for-profit teaching hospital that employs 574 registered nurses. The hospital, which opened in 1971 with 50 beds, serves more than 130,000 patients annually and holds accreditation by the Joint Commission or DNV Healthcare, according to Consumer Reports.

Palmetto General Hospital’s specialties include cancer, emergency medicine, heart and vascular, maternity, neurosciences, orthopedics, rehabilitation, robotic surgery, surgical weight loss, women’s health, wound care and several others.

Leapfrog General Safety & Ranking – A

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety grade of Palmetto General Hospital is A, largely due to above average scores in avoiding infections surgical problems. In previous years, Leapfrog rated the hospital with A’s and B’s.

The Leapfrog Group rates Palmetto General Hospital’s avoidance in the following categories:

Infections: how well patients avoid hospital-acquired infections

• MRSA infection: above average
• C.diff infection: above average
• Blood infections from ICU stay: above average
• Urinary tract infections from ICU stay: above average
• Infections of the surgical site after colon surgery: above average

Problems with Surgery: how well patients avoid surgery-related complications

• Dangerous object left in patient’s body: above average
• Surgical wound splits open: below average
• Death from serious treatable complication: below average
• Collapsed lung: above average
• Serious breathing problem: above average
• Dangerous blood clot: above average
• Accidental cuts and tears: above average

Practices to Prevent Errors: what the medical professionals and staff do to avoid errors

• Doctors order medications through a computer: above average
• Hand washing: above average
• Communication about medicines: below average
• Communication about discharge: below average
• Staff work together to prevent errors: above average

Safety Problems: how well the patients avoid harm from medical professional’s mistakes

• Dangerous bed sores: above average
• Patient falls: above average
• Air or gas bubble in the blood: above average
• Track and reduce risks to patients: above average

Doctors, Nurses, and Hospital Staff: the quality of the work of those in the hospital to ensure the best patient care

• Effective leadership: above average
• Enough qualified nurses: above average
• Specially trained doctors care for ICU patients: above average
• Communication with doctors: below average
• Communication with nurses: below average
• Responsiveness of hospital staff: below average

However, for almost all of the categories in which Palmetto General Hospital ranks above average, seven rank highest in the country:

• Effective leadership to prevent errors: Palmetto General Hospital has the highest score of 120.
• Enough qualified nurses: The average score is 97.19; Palmetto General Hospital’s score is 100.
• Specially trained doctors care for ICU patients: Palmetto General Hospital had the highest score of 100.
• Patient falls: Palmetto General hospital had 0 patient falls in the last year.
• Air or gas bubble in blood: Palmetto General Hospital had 0 air embolisms in patients in the last year.
• Track and reduce risks to patients: The average score is 96.26; Palmetto General Hospital’s score is 100.
• Dangerous objects left in patient’s body: 0 dangerous objects were left in patients’ bodies post-surgery at Palmetto General Hospital.

Consumer Reports Review:

The hospital has also received a score of 48/100 for safety from Consumer Reports. The score is slightly above the average score (47) for the seventeen Miami area hospitals that received ratings.

Above Average Ratings — General

Avoiding bloodstream infections

• The hospital reported 4 infections during the 10,464 patient days between April 1, 2016, and March 31, 2017. This was 65% better than national average.

Average score for C.difficile infections

• 30 reported C.difficile infections during the 78,767 patient days April 1, 2016, and March 31, 2017. The infection rate was 54% better than the national average.

Avoiding MRSA infections

• The hospital reported 2 infections during the 81,297 patient days April 1, 2016, and March 31, 2017. This is 63% better than average.

Appropriate use of chest scanning

• Less than 1% of patients received double chest scans.

Appropriate use of abdominal scanning

• 4% of patients at Palmetto General Hospital received double abdominal scans.

Average Ratings — General

Avoiding surgical site infections

• The hospital reported 3 infections over the 250 surgical procedures between April 1, 2016, and March 31, 2017. This rate was 17% better than the national average.

Avoiding Death – Medical

• The rating measures the probability that a patient suffering from a stroke, heart failure, heart attack, pneumonia, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease will die within a month of hospital admission.

Avoiding Death – Surgical

• The rating measures the frequency of a patient undergoing surgery dying in the hospital following development of a serious but treatable complication.

Below Average Ratings — General

Avoiding urinary tract infections associated with catheters

• The hospital reported 14 infections over the 9,466 patient days between April 1, 2016, and March 31, 2017. The rate was 5% worse than the national average.

Heart Bypass and Aortic Valve Surgery:

Heart bypass surgery goes as expected, with patients having a 98% chance of survival 30 days after surgery, a 91% percent chance of avoiding all five major complications, a 99% chance of receiving all four recommended medications, and a 94% chance of receiving an optimal surgical graft.

Aortic valve surgery, goes as expected, with patients having a 98% chance of survival 30 days after surgery, and an 87% of avoiding all five major complications.

Patient Satisfaction

Above Average Ratings:

Doctor-Patient Communication

• 95% of patients thought their doctor communicated well.

Communication between nurses and patients

• 93% patients reported that nurses usually or always communicated with them well.

Control of pain

• 91% of patients reported that their pain levels were usually or always well controlled.

Cleanliness of rooms

• 90% of patients reported that their room and bathroom were usually or always clean.

Average Ratings:

Quietness of rooms

• 87% percent of patients reported that the areas near their rooms were usually or always quiet during the night.

Assistance from hospital staff members

• 88% of patients reported that staff members usually or always provided help in a timely manner.

Below-Average Ratings:

The hospital received below-average ratings in several areas related to patient satisfaction:

Communication regarding discharge from the hospital

• 81% of patients reported that hospital staff advised them of occurrences to be alert for after they left the hospital.

Communication of information about medications

• 81% of patients reported that hospital staff members usually or always gave explanations regarding new medicines.

Areas That Are Not Yet Rated:

Childbirth is not yet rated.

Other Quality Indicators:

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Slightly below average for overall patient experience. The hospital scored no better and no worse than the average rate in avoiding re-admissions, with Medicare patients having approximately a 15.3% chance of readmission to Palmetto General Hospital within 30 days.

U.S. News & World Report Ranking:

Palmetto General Hospital isn’t ranked in U.S. News and World Report. However, it is rated as “high performing” in the following adult procedures:

• Heart failure

If you or a loved one have been harmed because of inadequate care or negligence by nurses, doctors or other medical staff members at Palmetto General Hospital, it’s important that you speak with an experienced personal injury attorney. For a consultation regarding your legal options, please contact our office today.