Candid Details on Hospital's Quality of Care Are Now at Your Fingertips - Just Like It...( ARLINGTON HEIGHTS Ill. Oct. 10 /-...)

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., Oct. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- During a hospital stay, what is your chance of acquiring a blood stream infection that could prolong your length of stay? What is the likelihood of a heart attack patient receiving aspirin upon arrival at the hospital to improve the chance of survival? What percentage of patients would recommend your hospital to a friend?

Finding the answers to these important questions can be a difficult task requiring tedious research -- if you find the answers at all. Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Ill., has stepped forward to change that. Northwest Community is the first hospital in the Chicago area and among the first in the country to conveniently post all of those answers and much more healthcare data on its website at http://www.nch.org. It's called the Quality Report Card, which debuted Sept. 10.

"Our goal is to set the standard for the way the healthcare industry provides credible information to people shopping for quality care," said Bruce Crowther, president and CEO of Northwest Community Hospital. "Well-informed consumers make the best choices for their own care, and that's the way it should be."

The online Quality Report Card is easy to navigate and shows how Northwest Community Hospital is performing compared to other hospitals in Illinois and across the nation in the following areas:

-- Clinical quality

-- Infection control

-- Mortality

-- Nursing care

-- Patient safety

-- Patient satisfaction

The Quality Report Card is distinctive for several reasons. "We consolidated the information into one location so consumers don't have to carry out an exhaustive search," Crowther said. "Our site is broad in scope -- showing quality measures you won't find elsewhere, such as in nursing care. And we're displaying an honest report that shows good outcomes as well as those we need to improve. We're gi
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