Christiana Care honored for surgical excellence with high risk patients

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Christiana Care photo.
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The American College of recognized  Christiana Care Health System  for surgical excellence in caring for its sickest patients and named it one of 66 hospitals in the top 10 percent of outcomes after surgery.

ACS has now  added a “High Risk Meritorious List” to help hospitals zero in on outcomes for their sickest patients.

Christiana Care has earned “meritorious” recognition in both categories, meaning patients who undergo surgery in a Christiana Care facility are less likely than average to experience surgical complications or death. The program tracks the following seven complications within 30 days of surgery:

  • Renal failure.
  •  Surgical site infection.
  •   Pneumonia.
  •  Unplanned intubation.
  •  Urinary tract infection.
  •  Ventilator use exceeding 48 hours.
  • Cardiac events (heart failure and myocardial infarction)

“Good outcomes are about excellence inside the operating room and beyond, shaped by the values our people live out every day,” said Gerard J. Fulda, M.D., chair of the Department of Surgery and physician leader of the Surgical Services Service Line. “That deep commitment to the lives we touch is what motivates our surgical teams to prepare their neighbors for their operations and our surgeons to follow the best evidence-based practices for their patients to achieve optimal health.”

Whether because of their age or pre-existing conditions, some patients enter surgery with a higher chance of developing one or more of the seven complications tracked by NSQIP. This year, the American College of Surgeons began tracking the patients whose expected risk for these complications put them in the highest quartile in each complication.

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Comparing only these patients gives hospitals a way to gauge their success at treating their sickest patients, according to Christiana Care,

 

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