Our Lady of Lourdes Nationally Recognized with an ‘A’ Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade
May 10, 2022
Patients want to feel safe, secure and taken care of when they enter a hospital setting. For Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center patients, a nationally recognized “A” grade in safety means peace of mind during some of your hardest health moments.
National healthcare watchdog organization The Leapfrog Group gave Lourdes an “A” grade for patient safety for spring 2022. The celebrated rating is based on a peer review of more than 30 performance measures looking at the number of accidents, injuries, infections and errors in a hospital setting, as well as the efficiency of systems a hospital puts in place to prevent harm.
Leapfrog conducts its review twice a year in spring and fall, investigating nearly 3,000 general hospitals across the nation. Lourdes’ top-tier grade this spring follows an “A” grade it received in fall 2021—acknowledging a consistent system of safety protocols that positions it as the safest hospital in the Lafayette area.
“I couldn’t be more excited or proud of our team for achieving this honor,” says Kathy Healy-Collier, President of Our Lady of Lourdes. “It affirms all of our efforts at every level of the organization demonstrating our passion and dedication to a safe environment as we continue to provide the best care available in Acadiana.”
The Leapfrog team looks at a variety of hospital practices to calculate its grade. That includes things like:
- The time it took for medical staff to respond to a patient’s request
- If medical personnel regularly washed their hands when entering and leaving a patient’s room
- If doctors used electronic devices to write a prescription, decreasing the chance of human error
- If there is a high rate of patients developing an infection during their stay—usually an indicator that medical teams aren’t following processes thoroughly
Mistakes in a hospital setting unfortunately are not rare, but they can be prevented when medical teams work well together and there is good leadership in place to ensure that patient safety is the top priority.
According to Leapfrog:
- About 200,000 people die every year from hospital errors, injuries, accidents and infections.
- Each year, 1 out of every 25 patients develops an infection while in the hospital that could have likely been prevented by attentive medical staff.
- A Medicare patient has a 1 in 4 chance of experiencing injury, harm or death when admitted to a hospital.
- Your bedside nurse is a good first point of contact if you need to talk to someone about a concern or if you see an error being made.
- If you’re unsure who to talk to, ask to speak to a hospital employee who can address a concern or complaint. Let them know that you’d like to hear back about what’s being done, and make sure you or a family member follow up after reporting the concern.
- You can report any concerns or register complaints by either calling Joint Commission's Office of Quality Monitoring at (800) 994-6610 or emailing complaint@jointcommission.org.
National healthcare watchdog organization The Leapfrog Group gave Lourdes an “A” grade for patient safety for spring 2022. Lafayette residents can be confident they have the safest place to turn to for their health needs right here in their own community.
About Our Lady of Lourdes Health
Founded by the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady in 1949, Our Lady of Lourdes Health is a not–for–profit Catholic healthcare ministry based in Lafayette, Louisiana. With a regional acute care medical center that employs more than 2,800 people, Our Lady of Lourdes Health offers a physician staff of over 850 doctors in a variety of medical and surgical specialties. Lourdes’ services include Centers of Excellence in the areas of Orthopedics, Stroke and a Robotic Surgery Program. Lourdes is home to the only burn unit in Southwest Louisiana and a Commission on Cancer-accredited oncology program. Our Lady of Lourdes operates Our Lady of Lourdes Heart Hospital, a premier 32-bed cardiac facility, and Our Lady of Lourdes Women’s & Children’s Hospital, offering the area’s only Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and Level III Surgical Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. With additional services including multiple clinics, four imaging locations and a primary care physician network, Lourdes provides easy access to comprehensive care throughout the community. Our Lady of Lourdes is part of the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System and is driven by its mission to serve all God’s people, especially those most in need. Discover more at LourdesRMC.com.