The August 2012 issue of ConsumerReports rated hospitals from nine states, including 107 Ohio hospitals, with an overall Safety score and four criteria. The criteria are infections, readmissions, communication and scanning. Complications and mortality were evaluated into the safety score of 0 to 100. There were many hospitals rated from Cleveland and other areas adjacent to Toledo. Hospitals in our immediate area with their Safety scores (0 to 100) are:
Flower Hospital - 65
The Toledo Hospital - 64
Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center - 58
Mercy St. Anne Hospital - 56
St.Lukes Hospital - 54
Mercy St. Charles - 48
The University of Toledo Medical Center - 28
The University of Toledo Medical Center rated the lowest of all 107 Ohio Hospitals. In fact ONLY 3 hospitals from ALL states combined had a lower Safety score than UTMC.
The highest score went to Billings Clinic - Billings Montana - 72. The lowest score went to Sacred Heart Hospital, Chicago - 16.
The University of Toledo Medical Center needs to improve and explain.
What do they mean in terms of "scanning"? Scanning of medical records? That's kind of odd...
And I agree, UTMC (formerly the Medical College of Ohio, let's not forget) needs serious improvement. Why anybody would voluntarily go to that cesspool of a hospital is beyond me.
"Scanning" refers to the use of a laser bar code scanner for such purposes as passing meds, doing treatments and procedures etc. Most hospitals in the U.S. are now "paperless" as far as these activities go. When I give a patient a med of any kind or do a treatment I first am required to scan the patient's wristband into the BCMA ( barcode medication administration system). I then scan the med and visually confirm that all is well on the computer. I also have to confirm the patient's identity verbally. Sometimes there are problems that require me to manually enter the info into the computer. Example would be the patient just took a shower and the wristband is wet and soggy and will not scan. There is not time to go and make a new ID band so we triple check the data and give the med. But this is actually considered a system violation. So when the Joint Commission comes around for inspection and ratings they count each such scanning violation as a safety error. Even though as a nurse I have done a proper visual and verbal confirmation. Happens every day for a variety of reasons including breakdowns and crashes of our computer systems.Everything from your meds to your lunch to the toilet paper in the restrooms is "scanned" i a modern hospital.
"Scanning - reflects the percentage of chest and/or abdominal CT scans that are ordered twice for the same patient, once with contrast and once without."
ConsumerReports explains that the double scans unecessarily increase the patient's radiation exposure.
UTMC rated at the very bottom of the scale in infections and communication. They rated below average in readmissions and average in scanning. It's really quite shocking, especially in the light of this being a teaching hospital.
In case you're wondering if heading off to Cleveland would get you to a safer hospital, well, save your gas. Flower Hospital and Toledo Hospital rated better than all the hospitals in the Cleveland area. So, unless you have a special case that requires treatment not available in Toledo, and that can happen, you're better off to stay with Flower or Toledo.
I also read the article. Amazing that the hospitals that I always thought were highly rated for patient care and treatment did not always show good scores on CR evaluations. Not just in this area for country wide.
In all fairness most large hospitals have the most critical cases which would lead to some of the complications they mentioned in this article.
The Chancellor of MUO Hospital doesn't even live in Toledo! He lives in NYC and commutes a couple days a week. He is paid an Ungodly amount of money and can't even answer the the most basic questions as to how the place is run. He is more pathetic than Lloyd Jacobs if that is possible....
Holland--
You are right. I forgot about the radiation survey. Scanning also refers to all of our ionizing radiation producing devices and I think maybe even our ultrasound machines. I'm not exactly sure on that as it's not my area of practice. But we did get knocked down on our safety score because of some issues in that department. I know we we have had a problem with practitioners ordering too many radiological tests and scans. Us peons out on the floor don't get to see that part of the report. They like to keep those things quiet.
The horribly low rating that UTMC scored is pathetic. How on earth can a teaching institution run such a dismal operation? My family now has strict instructions that in case of an emergency, myself and the Hub are NOT to be taken to UTMC.
UTMC's rating seems to fly in the face of their advertising, at least as I recall it, and even more unsettling is the teaching aspect. I would expect a teaching hospital to have the highest internal standards they reasonably could because they are setting habits and baselines for all of their students.
I've spent a fair amount of time working in a little lounge at UTMC while waiting for folks and I've overheard Upperclassmen to Applicant meetings fairly regularly there. It is stunning that so many bright young and receptive minds are coming from as far as California, Oregon, India, and Africa to study here and they are in one of the lowest ranked environments in the country? Not exactly inspiring.
The report seems to confirm what I observed as an out and inpatient at the former Medical College of Ohio. I observed "stuff" stored in the hallways and in the so-called operating room and when I mentioned it appeared unsanitary and more like a warehouse than a operating suite, I was knocked out quickly and woke up in recovery. Later , while a inpatient, I witnessed the male nurse in charge of the floor grab-assing the female nurses. I told him to cut the crop out or share. He did neither. I have reported both incidents to the proper authorities. The place has truly earned its numbers.
"My family now has strict instructions that in case of an emergency, myself and the Hub are NOT to be taken to UTMC."
Me too, Holland. Went to UTMC once years ago and decided never again. I had hoped it improved over the years, but apparently not.
http://www.toledoblade.com/Medical/2012/08/22/UTMC-suspends-kidney-transplant-program.html
Looks like UTMC is kinda sloppy in its entire institutional culture. They temporarily lost a kidney from a live donor during a transplant procedure (brother to sister) and when they found it again it was no longer usable.
How does one lose a kidney ?? Conspiracy theory would like to believe it was sold on the black market ! :)
How does one lose a kidney indeed. And think of the heart ache for both of the patients. They should lose their right to transplant for sometime. This is sad all ways around.
I wonder how the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center did in the ratings.