Something that we don’t think about often is if someone we know gets hurt, which hospital should you go to if you can choose?  Today we have a guest Blogger, Pamela who works for the only hospital in St.Louis to make the top 100 hospitals in the nation.   She did a great write-up after a recent incident:

Hey folks recent events have lead me to investigate some of the stats that we are always talking about at my work.  Thought you guys might like some links for data so don’t take my word or your docs or anyone,  look into your healthcare and make informed decisions about it. 

The National rating company report for hospitals for certain indications is based on ten years of patient data and outcomes based, in other words how likely you are to live at these facilities: http://www.healthgrades.com/consumer/index.cfm?fuseaction=mod&modtype=hospitals&modact=search_wizard&subact=proc&prodtype=hosprat&state=MO

and then you can search for a specific issue, like for example heart failure: http://www.healthgrades.com/consumer/index.cfm?fuseaction=mod&modtype=hospitals&modact=hospitals_search_results&prodtype=hosprat&state=MO&city=&maparea=334&proc=CHF&tabset=current&hgid=&useragree=yes

According to the Centers for Disease Control, more people die from hospital infections than from homicides, AIDS and car accidents combined.  Did your healthcare worker wear gloves and wash their hands when they were done with you?  They probably did not with the last guy either..

Hospital acquired infections report based on your hospital: http://www.dhss.mo.gov/HAI/

Here is an interesting little article on HAI  http://www.ksdk.com/printfullstory.aspx?storyid=111962 

To look up accreditation on hospitals, there is the JCAHO website – the Joint Commission Accreditation on Hospital Organization which includes reporting of core measure indicators (safety factors)http://www.qualitycheck.org/consumer/searchQCR.aspx

The bottom line is does your hospital report what it does and how well it does it, if not what are they hiding?