University of Miami Hospital Safety Report

The University of Miami Hospital is a non-profit teaching hospital, entirely owned and operated by the university. Although a general medical and surgical hospital, it has multiple adult specialties, including cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes, gastroenterology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, pulmonology, along with several others. The facility has 525 beds, making it one of the larger hospitals in the Miami area.

American Hospital Association data shows that University of Miami hospital admitted 20,546 patients in the most recent survey year and had 104,950 outpatient visits.  Hospital doctors performed 6,066 in-patient surgeries and 4,599 outpatient surgeries.

The University of Miami Hospital received a score of 49/100 for safety from ConsumerReports.com. The score falls just above the average for national hospital scores (44.5), as well as just above the average score (46.1) for the seven Miami area hospitals that received ratings.*

This score is based upon the hospital’s ability to:

• avoid infection
• avoid readmission
• communicate about medication and discharge
• appropriately use chest and abdominal scanning and
• avoid mortality.

The hospital earned high marks for avoiding infections, particularly bloodstream infections, but also surgical-site and catheter-related infections.

It also ranked above average for “avoiding death – medical.” This category is based on the probability that a heart failure, heart attack or pneumonia patient will die within 30 days of being admitted to the hospital.

The hospital also earned strong scores for the appropriate use of chest abdominal scans on patients. This means that it had a low percentage of “double scans.” Double scans occur when patients receive two kinds of imaging tests consecutively: one without dye and the other with dye. This needlessly increases a patient’s exposure to radiation. Unfortunately, double scans are a problem in many hospitals.

The hospital ranked below average when it comes to “avoiding adverse events.” Adverse events are defined by Consumer Reports as a measure based on mortality or a longer-than-expected hospital stays. The rates are compared with predicted averages based on the kinds of patients the hospital cares for and the types of surgeries it performs.

In this category, University of Miami Hospital had 22% more adverse events than predicted based on nearly 100 surgical procedures. In particular, it has 183% more adverse events with respect to knee replacement surgeries than predicted. With respect to coronary angioplasties, it has 108% more adverse events.  However, in the category of back surgery, the hospital had 16% fewer adverse events than predicted.

The hospital also ranked below average for “avoiding death – surgical.”  This category rates how often patients undergoing surgery died in the hospital after developing a serious, treatable complication.  Such complications may include pneumonia, deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolism, sepsis, shock/cardiac arrest or gastrointestinal hemorrhage/acute ulcer.  Conditions such as these should be identified quickly and treated.

Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports found that University of Miami Hospital earned an above average rating for patient satisfaction, meaning that overall patients were satisfied with the quality of care they received. Of the patients surveyed:

• 94% said the doctors always or usually communicated well.
• 94% said patients reported that the the nurse always or usually communicated well.
• 92% said their pain was controlled or managed well.
• 90% said their room and bathrooms were always or usually clean

However, the hospital received below average ratings for communication upon being discharge from the hospital or being introduced to new drugs.  In particular:

• 78% of patients said they received information about what symptoms and signs to watch for after leaving the hospital.

• 76% of patients said the doctors or nurses always or usually explained about new medication.

U.S. News & World Report

The U.S. News & World Report found that 75% of patients would recommend the University of Miami Hospital to family and friends. This percentage is both above the state average for hospital recommendations (68%) and the national average (71%).   Eight percent of patients surveyed said they would probably or definitely not recommend the hospital to others. This percentage is equal to the state average and slightly higher than the national average (7%).

* Not all 68 Miami area hospitals were rated by Consumer Reports

* Scores and Ratings were accurate at the time of writing