Spring View gets an ‘A’ for safety

Spring View Hospital — and its patients — have a reason to celebrate.

Spring View recently received an “A” on its Health Safety Score, according to a report by The Leapfrog Group, an independent, not-for-profit organization that advocates for hospital transparency.
Leapfrog assessed hospitals across the United States for their safety based on performance measures available through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Spring View was one of 12 hospitals in Kentucky to receive an A rating.
Local hospital officials were excited to learn they had received a top rating for safety.
“Obviously, I told my bosses and managers here. We felt very good about it,” said Kathy Ferriell, Spring View’s chief nursing officer. “We strive to be very safe.”
The high score is also a reflection of the dedication of the staff, according to Heather Lamkin, the director of physician recruitment and marketing for Spring View.
“We really have to attribute this to our physicians, our nursing staff and our hospital staff as a whole,” Lamkin said.
She added that this shows that people don’t have to leave the county to receive quality care.
“It shows your community hospital is safe,” Lamkin said.
Ferriell said as far as she knew this was the first time the Leapfrog Group had done this kind of study. She noted that many of the measures used to determine the ratings were based on reporting requirements put in place under the Affordable Care Act.
However, she does anticipate more reports in the future.
“I can’t imagine they’d do all that work to just do it once,” Ferriell said.
The scores include a variety of factors, such as:
- Foreign objects retained after surgery (objects left inside a patient)
- Air embolism, which is a blockage of the bloodstream caused by air or gas bubbles, which may occur when tubes are inserted or removed from large veins
- Patients receiving antibiotics within an hour before a surgical incision
- Patients receiving the correct antibiotic
Ferriell said many people have heard stories about things like sponges being left inside a patient after surgery. By having proper procedures in place, Spring View’s physicians and staff have minimized the risk of that or other safety issues happening.
Comparatively, Spring View was the highest rated hospital in the area. Flaget Memorial Hospital in Bardstown and Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center in Danville both received Bs, and Taylor Regional Hospital received a D in its health safety score.
Ferriell said just a few mistakes can have a big impact on the scores for a small hospital and that they are proud to be a small hospital that achieved an “A” rating.
Nevertheless, she and Lamkin agreed that the hospital will continue to try to get better.
“There’s always room for improvement,” Lamkin said.
Ferriell also said she hopes this will give the community confidence in the health services available locally.
“If you come here, we have a good record of providing good, safe care,” she said.
To learn more about the report, visit http://www.hospitalsafetyscore.org/. Enter the zip code, the name of the hospital or the location of the hospital and agree to the terms of use to see the scores.