Quality and Safety Data for Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital

Quality and Patient Safety: Our Focus

At Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, high quality care and patient safety are the foundations of clinical excellence. We believe in making the patient and family experience the best it can be, because every child deserves not only exceptional medical care, but also a healing environment filled with love, hope, and compassion.

Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital is proud to be a part of a 140+ network of children’s hospitals - Solutions For Patient Safety (SPS)-working together to eliminate patient harm. Continuous quality improvement is our goal and our journey to zero harm has us regularly evaluating our quality and safety performance. Very importantly, we rely on our patients and their families to partner with us. Sharing feedback allows us to create a better experience to meet each child’s needs.

Our Quality Measures:

We track quality and safety indicators so that we can see where we are doing well, and identify areas for improvement. Although we look at many metrics, below is a small selection of data that we routinely measure. This section of our website is where we present how we are doing.

Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infection (CLABSI):

Sometimes when a child is very sick, a central line may be needed. This is a special type of IV that is placed into a large blood vessel to provide medications, nutrients, and fluids. Although this may be necessary, one of the risks to having a central line is a blood stream infection (CLABSI). Monitoring the CLABSI rate and our practices helps to decrease future events.

Measurement

Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infection (CLABSI)

_{© Copyright 2023, Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS). All rights reserved. This document was created as part of the quality assessment and peer review activities of SPS Learning Network, and the underlying information used to create this document is not subject to discovery pursuant to ORC Section 2305.25, 2305.251, 2305.252, and 2305.253. Any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of this information is prohibited without the express permission of SPS.}

Continuous Quality Improvement Practices

At JDCH, we follow evidence-based guidelines to minimize the chance of a central line becoming infected. While the line is in place, the team monitors the site daily. Collaboration between our infection prevention team, nurses, doctors, and leadership include regular discussions regarding necessity, dressing changes, and access and handling of the site.

Surgical Site Infection (SSI):

There are times when a child may need surgery. The surgical site may be at risk for infection. At JDCH, we follow evidence-based guidelines to minimize the chance of a surgical site becoming infected.

Measurement

Total Surgical Site Infection Rate graph

Continuous Quality Improvement Practices

Collaboration between our infection prevention team, nurses, doctors, and leadership helps us to continuously monitor and make changes as needed to our surgery practices to reduce the likelihood of infection. Guidelines in place include proper use of antibiotics, pre-operative bathing treatments, operating room cleanliness, and post-surgery incision care and education.

HAND HYGIENE:

Washing hands at key times with soap and water and the use of hand sanitizer are some of the most important steps that can be taken to get rid of germs and avoid spreading germs to those around you. Proper hand hygiene is one of the most important things we at Joe DiMaggio can do to prevent infections.

Measurement

Continuous Improvement Practices

Our teams are committed to preventing infections. Education to improve adherence to hand hygiene and education to staff on the importance of improving hand hygiene adherence is vital. We train all healthcare personnel to follow the 5 “moments” to hand washing as recommended by the World Health Organization

We partner with our patients and their families who also play a crucial role in the prevention of infections.

These 5 moments are:

Before touching a patient
Before clean/aseptic procedures
After body fluid exposure/risk
After touching a patient
After touching patient surroundings

Serious Adverse Serious Drug Events (ADE’s)

We track and review all medication events, even if they do not cause harm. Tracking helps us improve patient safety. As you can see from the chart below, we are proud to report no adverse drug events resulting in serious patient harm.

Measurement

Continuous Improvement Practices

We continue to remain alert and proactive with our approach. We regularly adopt best practices that are shared by our peers through the Solutions for Patient Safety network. Our healthcare professionals follow strict medication safety protocols to prevent ADE’s.

Patient Experience:

At JDCH, we believe in making the patient and family experience the best it can be, because every child deserves not only exceptional medical care, but also a healing environment filled with love, hope, and compassion. We strive to create an environment that fosters trust, empathy, and respect. Feedback from our patients and family partners guides us toward providing better care and improved safety and quality results.

Measurement: (compared to similar children’s hospitals)

Patient Experience chart

_{Source: Press Ganey. The score represent the Overall Rating

All Scores Represents raw official scores only}

Continuous Quality Improvement Practices

Patient and family centered care is at the heart of Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. Our patient experience leaders round daily on our patients and families to better understand their experience. Daily patient and family centered rounds are conducted on all patients by our medical teams. We empower our patients and families to partner with us in all aspects of patient care, and we rely on their feedback to improve the patient experience.